The Kissing Booth - Noah's Story
by DanniiHey
Summary: I raised an eyebrow at her. She had just gulped audibly and was visibly nervous. She started fidgeting when I raised an eyebrow at her and I took her right hand into both of my hands to calm her down. So I thought. Her eyes widened and then flitted down to my lips ...
1. One

_Hello peeps. I've missed you! How are you?_

 _I have a new obsession and I desperately want to get back into writing. I have some ideas in my head for original stories that will be published over on Wattpad for that matter. Username over there is HeyDannieHey and I would love for you to head over there and show me some love, too. But only if you really really want to. So far I just started over there so bear with me. I have an idea for a story that is inspired by my new career but this may be a touchy subject so I have to hold that thought for a while longer I'm afraid :(  
_

 _Life crept up on me and I've had some exciting changes since you saw me last. Let's just say things got more interesting than I had bargained for and sometimes I am pretty overwhelmed still. Some good, some bad. It's a balance, remember?_

 _I hope the ever so awesome Beth Reekles is ok with me borrowing the last few sentences from her book "The Kissing Booth". If you have not checked out the book, its companion (which is on Wattpad) or the movie version that just landed on Netflix, you are missing out. By quite a lot._

 _I do not know how what I will be doing here exactly. I think it may have already been done. I have not taken a look at any stories and I won't until this is out of my system. No matter what this is going to turn out to, I would be thrilled, though, if you were my side. Love, xoxo._

* * *

 _ **The Kissing Booth - Noah's Story**_

 _'Just think,' Lee said then, 'all this, just from the kissing booth.'_

 _I laughed, pushing him slightly, and he laughed, too, squeezing me tight for a second before we turned away from the view of the empty runway, where the plane was lost somewhere in the cloudy sky and walked off.  
_

* * *

 **One.**

I don't remember exactly when my reputation turned into that of a player and desirable bachelor No 1 but I kind of ran with it. Word of mouth can travel faster than the speed of light or so it seemed to me. They rapidly turned every girl that I ever locked lips with into a fling and created unrealistic numbers of girls I had dated based on blowing things way out of proportion. After all, those were just kisses, right? I am pretty sure there is no rule against a guy and a girl making out when they're in the mood for it, either.

The talking train in my particular high school seemed to be exceptionally fast, Shinkansen-like. I wasn't surprised, though, since we lived in the golden age of smartphones and on-demand television. If we didn't want to, we wouldn't have to rely on an actual conversation with anyone.

I stopped my motorcycle in the wide doorway of our house, got rid of my helmet and opened the storage compartment to retrieve my bag. I saw my brother Lee's car parked and involuntarily smiled. Where my brother was, there was Shelly. Her name wasn't actually Shelly, she was called Rochelle and she was my brother's best friend ever since I can remember. She used to tail my every move when she was what ... like twelve or thirteen years old maybe. It was annoying. Still ... _cute_. I cringed at the word. She preferred to be called Elle anyway. Which I didn't do ... much. I liked to annoy her. A lot.

I made my way up toward my bedroom when I heard a strangled voice coming out of Lee's bedroom. 'What the ...'

Opening the door without a knock to have a surprise momentum on whatever was happening inside, I looked at the scene that was presenting itself in front of me. Elle was on Lee's bed, at best trying to wiggle out of her sweater which she had knotted herself into and wasn't able to escape from on her own. My annoying little brother was sniggering and must have just made an attempt to get off his desk chair to help a damsel in distress.

'Jeez, at least lock the door if you guys are going to do THAT.' I emphasized the word 'that' and waited for Elle's reaction. It was instant like I knew it would be. I just loved to tease her. She froze and her cheeks looked like they were flamingly hot, burning her cheeks bright pink in milliseconds. Her body betrayed her and I enjoyed this. Lots.

My brother rescued his best friend, hastily tugged down Elle's tank top and managed to get her sweater off her head, leaving her with the same hair as Albert Einstein wore on his famous tongue-out picture. I leaned against the doorframe, my amusement growing and I smirked at Elle.

'Hey Sheeeeeeeeeelly,' I greeted her and she flinched. I do know that she hates when I call her that. There were two options shortening her name, Rochelle, and I just loved to use the one that was more awkward and more annoying. It was my game and I liked to play it. Her reactions were always worth it.

'Hi, Noah,' she retorted, her voice snarky but her smile sweet. Infuriating. Interesting.

My jaw clenched almost violently as I gulped down a response I was about to utter. It was better I didn't say anything now. She'd be mad. I wanted to tease her because I knew she could not actually stay mad at me for too long but something about the look she just gave me told me that she would not let me off the hook easily if I teased her some more. Silence is golden. That didn't mean that I could not continue to smirk at her, right?

Look, I know what you're probably thinking and I get it: I should not use my looks and my reputation on my little brother's best friend and you are probably right. I shouldn't. She was just so ...

 _Normal_.

'I know I seem to have this effect on ladies, but could you please try and keep your clothes on in my presence?' - _Ouch_ , that was harsh. I hadn't meant it that way. I should really take that back.

'Dream on,' she said and rolled her eyes at me. Phew, that was a close shave!

'What are you guys doing, anyway?" I asked, genuinely being interested in their secret operation. They usually didn't close the door behind them because why would they, they were best friends after all. Elle looked at me quizzically for a brief moment but must have decided to shrug it off.

Lee said, 'We have to come up with a stupid booth for the carnival.'

'Sounds ... crap."

'No kidding,' Elle said and emphasized both words with an eye roll again. Apparently, all of the good booths were taken which made Elle and Lee look unprepared and quite frankly, they were. I was sure that I heard them talk about the carnival a few weeks ago already.

'We'll end up with something like - like - like that thing where you hook a duck.' Elle added, looking a tad bit desperate. She frowned and that made her look ... adorable? I shook my head in disbelief. Lee did the same. I am pretty sure he thought that she had just mentioned the absolute worst case scenario.

I got their attention by snapping my finger at them and they both looked at me. Good.

'Whatever,' I said casually weighing my next words carefully, 'Anyway, Lee - Mom and Dad are away tonight, so party at eight. The usual suspects, the usual procedures.'

Lee beamed, 'Cool.'

'And Elle?' I added, giving her a stern look, 'Try not to strip in front of everybody for me tonight, ok?'

' You know I only have eyes for Lee,' she quickly recovered from my quip and shot me another one of those innocent smiles of hers. I couldn't help but laughed a little and smirked at her. Did I just catch another small blush creeping onto her face? I watched her from the corners of my eye as I was typing party invitations into my messaging app. Having gotten two blushes out of Elle so far today I decided that another raise of that toll could wait for now and lazily strode out of Lee's room, leaving the door open.

While I was moving toward my own bedroom my heart involuntarily skipped a beat when I heard Lee tease, 'Hey, if you could stop checking out my brother for two seconds..."

The next thing I heard was a noise that I attributed to Elle shoving Lee with whatever force she could muster. Undoubtedly, she must have blushed again, too. Interesting. Interesting indeed. I stopped in my tracks, my curiosity triggered.

'Shut up,' I heard Elle say.

'I thought you were over your crush.'

'I am. That doesn't make him any less hot, though.'

As I resumed my cat-like and completely soundless walk to my bedroom in order to strip off my clothes, take a shower and get ready for the party later tonight I couldn't stop thinking about how she thought I was hot. And about how her cheeks had turned into this lovely color of embarrassment and the sudden need to dig a hole into the ground and wait things out. As I stepped into the shower I wondered whether they had resorted to the duck fishing booth in the end.

'I guess I'll find out,' I thought and turned my head toward the shower head.


	2. Two

_You might have guessed it ... yes, I do need to borrow some dialogue from Beth Reekles in order to make Noah's POV work but we'll explore more that went on behind the scenes, unbeknownst to Elle (and Lee), in the chapters to follow._

 _Somehow this piece is writing itself fairly easily ... if you think it doesn't 'flow' or have any other suggestions, please do let me know, I am using this to get back to regular writing and any encouragement of sorts would be so amazing to have 3_

 _I do not intend to commit any copyright infringement - Beth, please don't sue me! :*_

 _UPDATE: Spelling and grammar mistakes should be fixed in this chapter now!_

* * *

 **Two.** _  
_

I laid down my choice of clothes for the night onto my bed for later, slipped into my boxers, a plain white t-shirt and my most comfortable pair of sweat pants before I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen to start setting up for the party. The response had been enormous and people had RSVPd within seconds. 'Especially the girls,' I made a face at the thought of them all ogling me from various places of the property tonight, some at least trying to hide their stares, some plainly staring. One of my team mates from football swore he had once seen a junior drooling in the hall of our highschool when I had walked past. That was just too much. They needed to get over themselves.

I heard Lee's car just mere seconds later and the complete absence of any sound in the house except from the birds that were assembled on the patio outside let me know that Elle probably forced Lee to go shopping with her. Lee hated shopping. I didn't blame him too much. After all, why go to the mall when mostly anything was available online these days, right?

I ran my hand through my hair and assessed the situation. After a very unpleasant ham, turkey and condiment situation a few months back we had a party procedure in place to avoid imbecilities like these. The procedure involved a second refrigerator in the cellar and some elaborate food stacking techniques that I had refined and tested since the last opportunity of having a party occurred.

From the multitudinous responses to my party invitation I knew that I didn't have to do much tonight except for making sure the furniture was pushed back in the TV room to create a dancefloor. Everything else seemed - according to my messages - dealt with.

My phone beeped.

'Kill me now,' my brother wrote, and before I could even type a possible snide remark to his text he sent his location. The mall. 'Ha,' I said and grinned. Elle had indeed wanted to get something new to wear.

'Did Shelly drag you out there?' I texted him.

'Sure did, said she didn't have anything to wear,' the response was there immediately. Lee must be sat in a store, bored out of his mind, waiting for Elle to try on clothes. Intriguing thought ...

 _Beep_.

'Wait ... she may have found something ... yes she found a dress ... gotta go, check it out,' Lee wrote and before I could dive deeper into my imagination of the dress Elle had found, the next incoming message thankfully distracted me.

Thirty minutes later when I was finished hiding ham, turkey, bacon and other perishables that would be a staple in food fights, I heard Lee's Mustang pull into the driveway. I stepped toward the small window next to the door and peeked outside. Elle hastily left my brothers car, almost tripping over her own two feet. 'Klutz', I snickered but I could not help but taking a lingering look at her legs. My gaze went further up to her tiny waist and further up ... when did she get those boobs? They were ... kinda nice.

I saw my brother and his best friend hugging goodbye before Elle rushed home. I quickly retreated from the window. I really did not want my brother to think that I was spying on him. Or ogling his best friend from afar, for that matter.

'Hey,' Lee greeted me upon entrance, 'anything left to do?'

'Hid the possible food fight items, checked that we have enough ice to keep the drinks cool, made sure people bring the right stuff - only the furniture left, I guess,' I said, gesturing him to help me out to get that over with quickly.

'So she found something,' I asked casually and innocently while we carried a two-seater couch to the far end of the TV room. I was genuinely interested to get a description of what Elle would be wearing to tonight's party, though.

'Yeah,' Lee answered and I frowned at him. Something in his tone made me think he didn't want to talk about his best friend. Weird. He normally never stopped praising her to the extent that roughly four months ago I had to ask him if he eventually planned on asking her out. Because that would have been totally weird right?

'So...?'

'What do you care?' Lee unexpectedly snapped at me and my eyes must have significantly widened in confusion as I analyzed the expression on his face. His features were hardened into a masque for a split second before he regained control and relaxed his facial muscles. Lee's jaw clenched and he breathed in a little more deeply than necessary.

'Sorry, Noah, but honestly - why do you even care? It's just Elle. You've basically known her since here and I were alive, remember? It's Elle.'

'I know ...' my voice trailed off and inexplicably I ended up thinking about her flat stomach that I caught a glimpse of earlier when she had been caught in that tangled mess of a sweater. She played soccer so she was lean and fit which always amazed me considering how many burgers and other fast food her and Lee literally destroyed in the span of a week.

Lee just stared at me when I came back into the here and now, my eyelashes fluttering rapidly and my thoughts aspiring to regain control over my thought processes.

'Noah?'

'Yes?'

'She's my best friend.'

'I know.'

Why did that worry me all of the sudden?

* * *

Eight o'clock came and went and the house had already filled up quite nicely. Like I had knowingly suspected they had all followed the call of the infamous Noah Flynn, the guys in pursuit of a girl they might end up kissing tonight and the girls ... well - I hadn't done the math but I was pretty certain a high percentage of them had just showed up to be kissed by me eventually.

I did do that, kiss girls at parties. It's how I upheld my reputation as the school's most desirable bachelor. It made it look like I had so many viable options I simply didn't want to settle for one. Which had been true for quite some time now. They all wanted to kiss and make out with me, to have some casual fling and then just go back to normal with both our games slightly upped and our reputations altered or tightened. It was so simple and I had gotten away with it for more than two years now. No one remembered the last relationship that I've ever had simply because it never actually happened. So there's that.

I scanned the room and saw a variety of skirts that were too short, makeup that was over the top and guys that ogled girls across the room, planning their next moves. I sighed. This was so exhausting to watch. I needed a breath of fresh air.

As if she had heard me, Elle Evans walked into the open front door and into the house. She was wearing a corally dress and in comparison to the other girls present, she had not made a skimpy choice. At all. The dress played around her knees and flattered her petite statue. As she made her way through the crowd and into the kitchen I caught a glimpse of her back and - I liked what I saw. The dressed showed the creamy skin of her back without being too show-off-y or distasteful, her black hair was more curly than usual. She was wearing heals - to conceal her shortness a little bit maybe?

I hummed in appreciation.

With those heals on, how tall would she be, would she be able to reach ...

'Noah!' a girl's unnerving shriek burst that bubble quickly and I turned around and forced a smile on my face, being the perfect party host that I was supposed to be. Remember, I had a reputation to raise. When I finally freed myself from the girl whose name I didn't even remember, my eyes scanned the room for Elle immediately. Somehow she had woken the protector in me. I had always looked out for her and my brother when we grew up, of course, and I had always treated her like the little sister that I didn't have.

What intrigued me about Elle was that she didn't make a fuss about me being ... _the_ Noah Flynn. She simply didn't seem to care. After the events from earlier, however, I wasn't too sure about the not caring part. I saw Elle a few seconds later, emerging from the kitchen with a bottle of orange soda in her hand. She was following the waves of a group of junior girls and I quickly spotted the head cheerleader, Olivia. Elle looked uncomfortable and I wondered what it was all about. Not breaking my observation, I made my way downstairs and closer to the group, nodding in response to cheers from members of the party crowd as I walked past them. That must have caught Elle's attention and she looked in my direction but didn't seem to find me in the ocean of bodies. Phew. I really did not want her to catch me staring.

Still, I gravitated towards her and her bystanders. One of the girls shoved Elle in my direction. Interesting. Elle wandered over to intercept my walk toward the kitchen, which I had initiated one because it led me past her and her group and two because I had used it as a welcome excuse to escape some pretty intense female stares. I nodded at her, letting her know I had seen her and stopped.

I did wonder what that little gathering had meant, after all.

'Will you do the kissing booth for us, for the Spring Carnival?' she said without any prelude, her eyes pleading, 'Please? We can't find a fourth guy. It's for charity. Lee and I really need a favor.'

I straightened up. So this was what this was all about. The duck fishing thing idea had in fact been abandoned. Surely this was for the better.

'Kissing booth, huh?'

'Yeah.'

'That's cool,' I responded, trying to keep my answers minimal.

'I know. I am a cool person.'

'Better than your duck idea.'

'Ha-ha.'

I let out a laugh myself and gave her one hell of a half-smirk to revel in the possible reaction that I suspected I would be getting. I wasn't disappointed. So far, she had blushed at least three times today. The cause ... me, Noah Flynn. Let that sink in. I just had to know more.

'And you want me to be a kisser? At your kissing booth?'

'It's or a good cause?' - Oh, she was getting desperate, next thing I know she's trying to give me some coupons to redeem at a convenient time.

I shook my head, 'Don't think so, Shelly.' Emphasis on Shelly.

'Please, Noah?' - I was right, she was desperate and she'd already started begging. Did she really think the puppy dog eyes, the slight pout and the emphasis on my name would help? Ok, her pouting was definitely cute. I tried to step up my teasing game a little bit.

'Will you go on your knees and beg?'

I could tell she was carefully weighing her options there. I was on to something.

'No,' she slowly said,' but literally every other girl will. Would that do it?' - That insulted me a little bit. Didn't she understand that I'd specifically love for her to beg me for my participation? I didn't care about what the other girls wanted, I did care what Elle ... my eyes widened and I tried to mask my surprise at my unexpected thoughts with laughter.

'That's why I am going to say no, sorry.'

Elle let out a disappointed sigh.

'Well, they can't say I didn't at least try...' she trailed off, eyeing the group of girls in the corner of the room who had, of course, all just discovered a sudden interest in their respective beverages.

'Hooooooold on, did you actually _need_ me to do it, or do they just want me to do it?' I asked her, jerking my head in the direction of the still suspiciously preoccupied group.

'The latter...' Elle said honestly.

'Well, sorry,' I nodded, 'I don't think I can risk my dignity. Plus, imagine how much all the other guys would hate me for stealing all the kisses.' - I could not help to add this little remark, just to see what she'd make of it.

'I was thinking something more along the lines of how much the charity would hate you for putting people off coming to the kissing booth because you're not working it.'

 _'Touché.'_

'Whatever...' - She had given up, it seemed. She shook her head, 'forget it...'

Elle turned around on the spot, shrugged her shoulders, straightened up her posture and went back to the girl group who shifted their attention from their drinks to the possible good news Elle was transmitting.

I sighed. They were so predictable at times. Not that I would bet money on it, but I was fairly certain that the head cheerleader Olivia would try to convince me next, securing her position and trying to let Elle look weak. That wasn't going to happen for various reasons, though.

I grinned in anticipation. Bring it on, Olivia, bring it on!


	3. Three

_I've gotten two amazing reviews so far - thank you farawaymomo and agentfandoms74 for your lovely comments. I woke up to them and I was happy to see that you guys had taken the time to say hi. Never not do that, it makes anyone who puts their ideas out there feel appreciated._  
 _I've seen a couple of typos so far which I will fix as soon as possible. I was just rushing to get things out of my system so they happened._

 _As to the question whether I plan to update regularly? Yes, I do. It helps me staying focused on other things I need to write and it helps me to stay sane in a hectich phase of my life, so defiitely yes. Onward we go ... xoxo_

 _UPDATE: This chapter should be freed from any grammar or spelling mistake now. :)  
_

* * *

 **Three.**

I did not have to wait long. It did not actually take very long until one of the girls detached from the group and made her way toward me and _BINGO_ , it was Olivia, the head cheerleader. She was actually trying to accomplish something Elle hadn't mastered. Did she not have any idea how futile and unneccessary that attempt was going to be? And did I just see her quickly take a shot, too? Olivia usually didn't let anyone even guess she could be nervous about anything. With most of the guys desperate to get her attention, she had become confident over the last couple of months, cocky even. It was annoying. I liked when girls were confident about themselves but just in those instances when they could back that claim with something substantial.

She made quite a few heads turn as she sauntered over to me. She had a sly grin on her face, Cheshire Cat-like, and was undoubtedly trying to rope me in with the slight sway of her hips. Too bad it wasn't really working. She just wasn't my type. Even though I had carefully planted the rumour that I was into blondes. I really wasn't. I was into interesting, I was into challenging and I was into substantial.

'Flyn...' she puffed and touched my right bizeps in her desperate need to establish some sort of connection we've never really had and which I didn't need. I shrugged her off non-chalantly. I didn't care if that came off too harshly, I glared past her searching for Elle. She jerked slightly when she realized I was staring. Good.

'Olivia,' I grinned in anticipation, 'what can I do for you this fine evening?'

'Look, _Flynn_ , I know you're kinda busy with football and stuff...' she trailed off, nervously playing with a strand of her blonde hair.

'Yes?' - I just loved it when they squirmed. I intensified my stare and she stepped nervously from one foot onto the other, fidgeting, her fingers moving even more rapidly on the already beaten strand of hair.

'We have this kissing booth at the carnival...'

'No.'

'But it's gonna be so much fun...'

'No.'

'Flynn?'

'Still no.'

She, too, tried the puppy eyes. She must have gotten the impression that a pleading look in combination with a rather skimply looking black dress would do it for me. Did no one pay attention to what I really liked? My eyes wandered to find Elle again. When Olivia practically leaned into me and intensified the puppy eyes, I've had enough.

'Still absolutely no way I am doing this,' I said quietly, my expression disgusted. She was so full of hersef, thinking all she had to do was walk over, present her body in a tight dress and that was all it needed. No wonder a lot of the other guys thought every girl was easy to get.

'Whatever...' she barked, rolled her eyes at me and sauntered off back to the group of girls which all shot her sympathetic smiles. All but Elle who grinned in victory but hid her emotions when she realized I once again looked over. Their attention shifted back to Elle and I could tell that it made her uncomfortable. She escaped from the other girls grasp into the lounge where people were dancing.

* * *

At around eleven o'clock the party had intensified and so far everyone was having a good time. Not everyone was drinking but the crowd in the game room seemed to enjoy the pink and green shots someone - I think it was Dixon - had brought.

'Noah,' I heard my brother's voice, he was standing in the door frame of the game room, an expression of disbelief and exasparation on his face. What was going on?

' _Lee_?' I asked him quietly as I stepped closer, 'what's up?'

'Elle...'

And then I saw her, standing on the pool table swaying her hips to inaudible music. It was apparent that she had had quite a few drinks so far. Lee was flustered and embarrassed beside me. He nervously kneaded his hands together.

'I said she should get down but she refuses to listen to me,' I grinned in response, 'all she did was try to drag me up there. Dance Club, remember?'

'Someone come skinny dipping!' Elle shrieked enthusiastically and that was that. Enough. There was no way in hell I was going to allow her to strip down and go into the pool. One, because she was really really drunk and two, because I could simply not allow any of those players to see her like that ... 'Not going to happen,' I told myself and stepped toward the pool table, a shell-shocked Lee behind me. I was pretty certain my brother didn't expect me to take immediate action of the rather drastic kind.

I internally praised football training for that it had given me the muscle strength to simply pull Elle off the pool table in one swift movement before she was able to actually opening the zipper of her dress that she had been fumbling with. With her head undoubtely looking at my back, her feet in the air and her torso thrown over my shoulder, I made my way past my brother and carried Elle toward the stairs to our bedrooms.

'Hey!' Elle cried out, clearly unhappy about the interruption, 'Put me down! Put me down!'

I huffed in response but I was sure she didn't actually hear that. All I cared about was her, I just needed to get her out of trouble - again. We made it through the crowd and toward the stair case.

'Can I help you, Noah?' I heard my brother say and I slightly turned toward him and hissed, 'you should have paid more attention to her alcohol intake, brother, or are best friends not looking out for each other anymore?'

That silenced him. He looked hurt but I didn't care.

'I'll be fine,' I snorted and continued climbing the stairs with my precious cargo. Elle started to wiggle around in order to free herself from my grasp but that was not going to happen. I intensified my grip.

'Stop,' I said quietly but she must not have heard it, despite the music dying down significantly the further I carried her. I opened the door to my bedroom and dropped her onto the mattress and with a slight bounce she was there, sprawled across my bed. I licked my lips. There seemed to be a recurring theme with me, Elle and beds today. She somewhat quickly regained some of her composure and when I turned back from switching on my desk light, she was sitting as straight as she could, folding her legs underneath her. Cute. I had already seen her legs in that dress earlier, what did she think she was attempting to hide here? I grinned.

'Noah Flynn,' she sighed in response to my reprimanding look. Really, what made her think getting wasted was such a good idea, really? 'You're such a party pooper! I was having fun!'

'You were about to strip off,' I argued, my tension rising. Didn't she understand the degree of stupidity involved in that particular idea, especially with all the guys present? Surely she must know how cute she was, right? She must know that a lot of boys were eager to go out with her. Except they never asked her because I specifically told them that they shouldn't dare to. They were all players after all and Elle was simply too ... trusting. Yeah, let's go with trusting. I quickly dismissed the fact that my initial description of her would have been 'precious'.

'Just take a break for twenty minutes.'

'No!' she cried out and then she started pouting. Adorable ... 'Don't be such a downer. I wanted to go skinny dipping!'

I shook my head at her but could not suppress a smirk, 'Tempting as that is,' and it was in fact a very temping thought to imagine her in the water, clothes discarded on the edge of the pool ... minus the audience, of course. I feigned innocence, 'I think you're better off staying here for a little bit - at least until you're more sober.'

She sighed at my reasoning and sank back down on my pillows. Elle Evans was still lying in my bed. I could not help but wonder if her drunken state had actually yet made her realize where exactly she was. She sat back up again with a sudden movement, her eyes wide with confusion, 'Are you going to leave me all on my own?'

'No, actually, I don't trust you to stay in the room.'

'You don't trust me? Why not?' I'm Lee's best friend. You've known me since forever! You should actually trust me more,' and with that her pouting intensified. I shook my head in exasparation but also because I found her to be utterly funny. Yes, I knew her for ages and I knew who she was, she was my little brother's best friend. Granted, minus the alcohol intake and the loss of control. I walked over and pushed the door shut. The last thing I needed was Elle escaping. Or worse, Lee seeing her in here. With me. I turned the key in the lock whick made Elle jump. She looked at me quizically and her brown eyes darkened slighly. I grinned as her eyebrow shot up in response to my actions. I walked past the bed, pushed some dirty clothes off a chair and straddled it, facing Elle on the bed.

'Aren't you drunk?' she asked me.

'Not really,' simple as that, I just wasn't. I for once had been too busy watching her discreetly during the night.

'Aw, why? It's your party. Go crazy!'

'I think you were being crazy for the both of us.' After all, she had attempted to strip down and go skinny dipping in our pool.

There it was again, the pouting. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spoil your fun.'

I laughed at her. She clumsily clambered to the edge of my bed and swung her legs back and forth whilst she sat on her hands.

' _Noah_...' She prolonged my name and looked down at her feet.

What did she want now?

'Yes,' I replied, waiting for more context.

'Will you please do the kissing booth for us?'

'No.'

'Please?' she begged and started bouncing up and down on my admittedly springy mattress. I watched her carefully, fearing the movement could make her sick. 'Please, please, please with a cherry on top?'

'No.'

'Why not?' she had turned her pout into a whine. I usually didn't have a thing for the whiny girls but this was a tipsy Elle who was sat on my bed. I would be lying if I didn't say that I thought the entire situation was very intriguing.

'You're so _mean_!'

'I don't want to do a kissing booth, simple as.' - Jeez, woman, why must you keep coming back to this. I just didn't want to.

'But _why_...'

Oh, Elle.

'I don't want to.'

'Please? It's - I think it's for cancer. Or dolphins. Yeah, maybe it's for the dolphins. That's a funny word, isn't it, dolphins. Dolphins ... Dol ... phins. Like dolly-fins.' - Ok she was clearly losing it now.

'I'm not going to do the kissing booth, no matter who or what it's for.'

She got off the bed, wobbly feet set on the ground carefully and then testing whether to trust her walking skills or not, Elle slowly made her way over to me. With me still sitting down, straddling my chair and her standing in front of me, we were almost the same height. I straightened my posture to gain more leverage. She came closer in a daring, unlike-Elle move, and our noses were almost touching.

'Not even for me?' - What was I supposed to say to that? That I had had a crush on her for the last couple of months? That she was driving me crazy? That I loved how she teased me by calling me ' _Noah_ '? That ... I shook my head.

'Man, Elle, your breath stinks! How much vodka did you actually have?' - My blatant honesty shocked me sometimes.

'I don't know ... Dixon poured it.'

I sighed. 'Those guys ... I swear ...'

'What?' - Oops, maybe I should not say much else. She was tipsy but she wasn't stupid. There was no way I was allowing her to know that I had told all of them off.

'Nothing,' I quickly said and hoped she had not realized that there was more to the story than I let her know.

'Fine, don't tell me then,' she said, pouting again and shot back up fully only to stagger back and almost tumble. I immediately jumped off the chair and all I heard was 'I think I'm gonna be sick.'

I shoved her into the adjacent bathroom and pushed her over the toilet bowl. Just in time because mere moments later, Elle puked her guts up. I flinched back for just a millisecond but continued to hold her hair back in an attempt to make things at least slightly better. I didn't think she noticed my feather light touches on her back and shoulders. I was desperate to confort her even if she brought the misery on by herself. She transitioned from puking to dry-heaving in the span of a few minutes and I got up to pour her a glass of water which I pushed against her lips once she was sat up and leaned against the bathtub.

She looked at me sheepishly but I just jerked my head with a small movement, gesturing her to drink the entire glass of water.

'I'm really, really sorry, Noah,' she whimpered. She must feel all gross and sick after throwing up. For better or for worse, though, right? I pushed _that_ thought away. Focus, Noah! 'I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your party.'

'You didn't ruin my party, Elle,' I told her. I could tell she wouldn't believe me and she shook her head in denial.

'Yes, I did. I'm really sorry.'

'It's ok,' I laughed, 'just calm down, okay?'

She scowled, clearly not done with apologizing and then punched me on the chest. Her eyes widened and I grinned with pride.

'Don't laugh at me.'

'Am not,' I murmured almost inaudibly and laughed harder. I pulled Elle to her feet but she wasn't expecting the sudden move so she half fell. I quickly caught her, steadied her with an arm around her waist to support her. I loved her tiny waist and just how curvy it made the rest of her body look. I helped her stagger over to my bed and dropped her on top of the covers.

'I'll be back in ten minutes to check on you, Elle, ok?' I asked.

Small snores told me that she was out like a light.

I quickly made my way toward the door, unlocked it and went downstairs to get Lee. Moments later he snickered at Elle's snoring and her being sprawled across my bed.

'I bet the girls you usually invite into your bedroom aren't out like a light, huh?' Lee half teased me and grinned.

'When have you last seen one in here?' I asked him, matter-of-factly. That threw Lee off and he had to think pretty hard.

'Couple of months?'

I just hummed.

'Noah...'

'Yes?'

'You know that's my best friend, right?'

'What a great best friend you've been to her tonight,' I retorted, clearly wanting to change the subject.

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Well, I don't have a best friend so I don't know what the rules are here, but I am pretty certain that a best friend should look out for me in case I have too much to drink in a room full of highschool boys that wanna make a move!' I barked at him and he fell silent.

'I'll sleep in the guest room,' I said and started to retreat.

'You're not coming back downstairs?'

'No,' I said, my mouth a fine line. Lee turned back to face the stairs and was headed down. Didn't he see that I needed to stay close to check on her, in case she got sick again? Obviously not.


	4. Four

**_I cannot thank you guys enough for stopping by and saying "hello" or just quietly lurking. I loooooooove lurkers. I often lurk myself, mostly on Twitch so that I still support content that I love. It really does mean a lot and it encourages me to keep going._**

 ** _Dear Beth, once again, I have to say thank you for such an inspiring story. I am glad you put your nervousness behind you and published on Wattpad. You're thriving and your success and the memories that came along with The Kissing Booth are something that no one can ever take away from you. I think we are all a little bit jealous._**

 ** _I, myself, am infinitely happy and grateful for my very own Lee Flynn. We've known each other since 2004 and we are best friends basically ever since. We just clicked. I am so glad I have this best friend in my life and I sincerely hope that someone comes along for each and every one of you. A Noah. And a Lee. Mwah!_ xoxo**

* * *

 **Four _._**

\- 'Listen! Let me tell you something about myself because I think it is time to clear things up. I have mentioned it before but I do have to explain a little bit here ... I am really not a player. Neither do I know when this has all started nor who started it in the first place. It may have been one of those rare occasions that just developed a life of its own really. Hold that thought!'

I snook into my bedroom when the last remnants of the house party died down and people started snoring so loudly from the couches in the living room I was able to hear them one floor further up. Rolling my eyes I quietly closed the door and turned around, facing my bed. Elle was still laying on my bed the same way I left her a couple of hours ago and I started worrying that she might get cold. She was still quietly snoring through one nostril and I chuckled. Adorable. Also slightly gross.

I made my way toward my dresser and fetched one of my football shirts. 'Might as well ...,' I thought and turned around to see if I had woken her up accidentally. I had not. Good. I wasn't entirely sure if she had messed up her dress when she had been sick earlier so I decided that even if not it had to come off. 'Risky, Noah,' I scolded myself for wanting this for the very wrong reasons. The thought of touching the smooth skin of her stomach let my heart beat faster instantly and I could hear the blood rush through my veins. 'It's a reasonably good idea,' I tried to convince myself. After all, I didn't want any stains on my sheets, did I?

I sat down on the bed beside her, fearing that the movement might wake her up enough so she'd eventually turn to her side or worse ... actually, wake up and find me here, watching her sleep, still caring. Just as Lee should have ... I pushed that thought away. I think Lee had gotten the message. I did feel glad that he had alerted me to the almost-skinny-dip situation, though. Saved by the bell.

Elle continued sleeping soundly so I slowly lifted the delicate fabric of her dress to retrieve the zipper of her coral dress and slowly pull it down. My hands trembled and I exhaled sharply when the fabric parted and showed me more skin than I usually got to see of her. Careful not to wake her up, I pulled the dress down until it lay just around her ankles. Knowing that she'd rightfully feel slightly violated by me undressing her in her drunken and sleeping state, I tried my all not to touch the creamy white skin around her navel. 'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, Noah!' I cursed internally, 'she can never know that this happened the way it happened.'

I hadn't thought this through. If she woke up wearing my shirt, she would kinda know what I had done, right?

Maybe she'd think it had been Lee ... but she would have ended up in Lee's bedroom, instead of mine ... 'Stop it, Noah, you're just going to deny knowing what happened. Period!' I thought and rolled the shirt up to make it easier to put it on her. It had short sleeves, that made it easier. Still, getting her arms into the sleeves proved to be quite a challenge as they were floppy and felt rather heavy.

I managed to get her into the shirt at last and then slid her feed out of the dress and hung that on my desk chair. I put the duvet over her just in time for her to let out an ear-splintering snore. She turned onto her side, facing away from me and I could swear I heard her say something in her sleep. Curious, I stepped closer to the bed again but I didn't hear her say anything else.

Just as I was about to slip out of my room again I was sure to have heard her mumble 'Noah...'

Whoa.

* * *

'Where was I on the 'I am not a player'-explanation? Oh right, I don't really know how it started but I went with it for various reasons. I could pretty much choose to be with a girl for a makeout session on the beach or at a party if I liked. She'd made out with Noah Flynn, could tell all of her friends about it and the rumours would be sent flying like crazy. I would have a cheeky makeout session that built up my reputation and made sure I was not too hot to make out with girls but too hot to actually just have one girl I liked having around. Like I said, I went with it and it suited my lifestyle just right.

That is, until a couple of months ago.

I sincerely don't know when exactly it had changed or why I suddenly thought I disliked a lifestyle that cultivated and maintained over the years. It just turned into something I did no longer want nor need.

If this were to be a romantic comedy I would now tell you that there had been this one fateful exchange of glances between Elle and myself and the cheesy music in the background serenaded to the fact that we were meant for each other or some other kind of cheesy bullshit. It was not like that. It was merely the fact that something about Elle Evans had intrigued me for a while now and I hadn't been able to pinpoint what it was.

Maybe it was because she was not falling to my feet like literally any other girl at our school. She would actually get into staring matches with me when we argued and she would win them easily. We would laugh it off like it was nothing except for this was actually a big deal. At least it was for me.

I knew some of the junior and seniors had wanted to ask her out and I had seen to it that they didn't. Would Elle kill me if she knew? Probably. Did I care? Really not. The guys that had expressed an interest in her were players and how they would talk about her in the boy's locker room was beyond disgusting. I just had to interfere her, you know? After all, Elle was practically family.

And she suddenly had boobs! Ok, that sounds very insensitive and macho but I am a guy and I appreciate these things. As did the other guys which was even more of a reason to tell them off.

She intrigued me and she challenged me and I lo...

No. I could most certainly not be in love with my little brother's best friend. That was not possible. Or was it?

Damnit!

* * *

The first rays of sunshine had woken me up again after a few hours of sleep and some of my mornings consisted of a good, thorough workout. The weather looked amazing, crisp fresh air, sun and the smell of rain. I decided to squeeze in a hike through the Hollywood Hills and was out of the door just before 6:15 am. The living room looked like a real mess and I wasn't looking forward to cleaning later.

I returned home 1 1/2 hours later to find that the house was still fast asleep except for two guys from my football team who were just waking up in the garden. They apparently had slept on one of the sun loungers outside. 'Good morning, boys,' I grinned as I stepped outside, small beads of sweat glistening on my forehead.

'Flynn, why are you so chipper, it's too early," Dixon complained and stifled a yawn.

'I didn't get as wasted as the rest of the party, apparently,' I retorted matter-of-factly.

'You were the party pooper after all.'

'How's that so?'

'Come on, I would have loved to see Elle Evens actually go skinny dipping,' Dixon grinned. I clenched my fists and growled. That made him flinch.

'Easy Flynn, one could think you have a crush on Evans or something...'

Boys, he had no idea.

'I have a suggestion to make,' I said, still pushing my fingernails into the palms of my hand, suppressing my anger as best as I could. They were players, all they wanted was mess with a girl and then just leave.

'Which would be ...?'

'You guys start cleaning ...' My still furious stare made them comply easily. I turned back around, leaving them to their assigned chores. I had to take a shower after my hike, I started to feel disgusting.

* * *

I opened the door to my bedroom carefully just to be sure I would not wake Elle up. 'She must have a hell of a headache,' I thought and smiled. Maybe she'd learn from her mistakes. The hinges of the door creaked.

Crap.

I opened the door fully, half expecting Elle to be staring at me like a deer in headlights and this was exactly what happened. She looked at me, shell-shocked. I was sure it did not help at all that I had just gotten out of the shower, just wearing a towel. The sole purpose of entering my bedroom was to retrieve some clothes. Or so I tried to persuade myself. I tried to tell myself that I would not have lingered a little bit longer to watch Elle sleep. Absolutely not.

'Sorry,' I quietly said, 'I didn't mean to wake you.'

'It's ok', she said, her voice creaky and strained from the alcohol and the sickness. Maybe she had just woken up and was confused why she was in my room.

'I just woke up anyway,' she added, confirming my suspicions.

'Right,' I said, remembering the events of last night, 'hungover, much?'

She grimaced in response and I could not help but chuckle. I wondered how much she actually did remember doing. Or planning on doing, as a matter of fact...

'You have no idea,' Elle said, touching her forehead, 'I didn't know I'd drunk so much.'

'You had a LOT of vodkas. I know that' I grinned, sitting down on the end of my bed, making the mattress move from my body weight.

'What do you mean? Elle's eyes widened once again. She must not recall what had almost happened after she'd climbed the pool table last night. 'You know that? When did you _see_ me?'

Ok, she did NOT recall what happened. I suppressed a grin. Time to tell her the plain truth.

'When you were about to strip off on the pool table in front of a bunch of the guys and then go skinny dipping in the pool...', I said casually, peeking at her sideways, scanning her face for reactions to this revelation. The slight pink tint on her cheeks deepened into a lush red tone. I chuckled. Her jaw dropped after a few seconds, it had taken her a while to understand what I had just said.

'Oh, God, tell me I didn't!'

'No, you didn't. I had to carry you out,' I said, adding internally 'before any of the guys could actually exploit the situation.'

She gaped when she realized that I was the one that had carried her out before she could do such fateful nonsense. Her cheeks turned even redder and by now they must really be burning with heat. She covered her face with both her hands, embarrassed. She looked through her fingers at me and her muffled voice said, 'I can't believe I did that!'

'Yeah, well, you did!'

'Thanks, though. For stopping me. That would've been embarrassing this morning...', her voice trailed off.

'You don't say so,' I said sarcastically and raised an eyebrow at her but then smiled. No need to make her feel even worse but I guessed my next words did exactly that.

'You threw up, too. Just FYI.'

'What, in front of people?' She was mortified. I could not blame her.

'No,' I said and shook my head. My hair was still wet and some droplets of water flickered onto Elle's face. 'In my bathroom. I was trying to make sure you didn't make an idiot of yourself or get hurt.'

She groaned, 'Sorry about that. I'm really sorry, Noah. I didn't mean for you to miss the party or anything,' I was pretty certain she didn't remember much about apologizing to me before, repeatedly. I genuinely didn't mind. I had to tell her.

I shrugged.

'It's ok. I didn't mind.' That much was true. I didn't mind helping her and making sure she was going to feel better.

She scoffed, clearly not believing me. What did I do? Why would she not believe me when I had just basically said that I cared about her and needed to make sure she was alright? Did I need to spell it out for her?


	5. Five

_**I just want to come on here briefly to thank the five amazing human beings that wrote the six reviews (yes, someone came back, which I find very exciting) - you are inspiring me and you are part of the reason I've come back to my computer to sit down and type things out for you.**_

 _ **Obviously, there are lines from Beth Reekles' book - at least those ones we know involve Noah, however, we will dive deeper into football camp and we will get to listen to some of the extremely inappropriate things some of the guys said. Some will probably call this locker room talk, Noah sure disagrees. He's pretty pissed about it, this much is apparent ;-)**_

 _ **Now, shall we begin my friends?**_

* * *

 **Five.**

'Sure. Whatever. I think we both know it wasn't exactly the highlight or your night having to take care of me...' Elle said and glanced out of the window, suddenly shy and desperate to avoid any eye contact. She did not know me as well as she thought she did - this much was clear to me now. I started to wonder why she hadn't raised any issues about the fact that it hadn't been Lee's room she had woken up in, yet. I stuck to the truth unknowing how she'd take it.

'It wasn't all that bad,' I said after a moment and that caught her attention because she rapidly turned her head back to me. I couldn't help but transport my genuine message with a smile and just like that, I beamed at Elle Evans like a love-struck idiot! 'Just get it together, Noah!' I cursed inwardly but it did not do any good. I just could not help it, I had to smile.

Somehow I had made her smile back at me after a little hesitation on her part. Good, that was really good.

'Well, thank, Noah.'

Why must she say my name like that, with that little emphasis, she knew I hated ... well played, Elle. Well played.

'Anytime, Shelly.' I meant it. I'd be there for her no matter what for as long as she'd have me. I really had become a love-struck idiot. She could literally never know! I reached over to ruffle her hair into an even worse bedhead and she attempted to push me away. She knew I was a football player, was she really thinking she could push me away for ruffling her hair? Yeah, didn't think s...

She had enough power to send us both tumbling down, off the bed and onto the floor. I ended up laying on top of her. I swear this happened by accident. I thought we would have one or our staring matches, right there and then, when we locked eyes. I looked into her eyes and she looked back into mine and I daresay we were both a little bit mesmerized by what we were seeing.

'Noah,' she creaked.

'Yeah?' I said, still in a daze.

'You're crushing me.'

I blinked a couple of times and the sudden realization that I was a lot heavier than she was hit me.

'Oh, right. Shit. Sorry!'

I got back on my feet again and held the slipping towel around me. It had gotten dangerously loose. I am not entirely sure what the protocol would have been, had it dropped ... to distract myself from this ever so tempting thought - yes, I had briefly considered making out with her right there on the floor, sue me! - I reached a hand out to Elle to help her up. The shirt I had dressed her in barely reached down to her butt - the clothing choice made by me alone had not actually consisted of too much thought, it had merely been grabbing the next best thing available. She did feel self-conscious about it, this much I could tell from her body language and how she looked at me. I had seen her in her bathing suit or bikini at the pool, but this time things were different. She was in my bedroom, she was alone with me and she had just learned that I had taken care of her during the night. That changes things. I was still curious as to when she'd figure out I had actually dressed her ...

'Um, when did I change?' she asked, plucking at the shirt and looking around. Could she read my mind? If so, she was in for a hell of a ride.

'Oh, I came back to check on you,' I paused for the dramatic effort and then it hit me. She had no recollection of last night's events so I could make it even more awkward and unbearable, 'and you woke up, and then you started to take off your dress because you didn't want to crease it, you said, so I found you a shirt to wear.'

I shrugged it off but I was observing her every move, her entire reaction. Would she feel awkward, ashamed even? I briefly scratched the back of my neck.

'So ...' Elle must have had an epiphany because she had turned all pale and shocked in seconds, 'you saw me ... in my underwear ..'

I could not help it. My mouth twitched in amusement and as a reaction to her apparent embarrassment. I tried soooo hard not to smirk ... but my face failed me, 'uhh...'

'Oh. My. God.' Elle said and once again buried her face in her hands.

'I averted my eyes, I swear.' Well, that was a part of the truth. I tried to avert my eyes would have been the more honest thing to have said here, though. I was wondering how she was going to play down this one. She didn't disappoint.

'Don't worry about it.'

It clicked. She must think that my player reputation included that I must have ogled all over her body for minutes before I handed her the shirt (the version I had told her) respectively before I had helped her into my shirt in the first place. Well, ...

'Lee's downstairs, cooking breakfast if you want any,' I said, changing the subject. Time to move on. Also, I needed to get dressed.

Elle's stomach decided to answer for her with a howling growl. We both laughed.

'Awesome,' she said and made her way out of my bedroom, closing the door behind her to give me some privacy. I just stared at the door, my thoughts racing and my heart thumping a little faster than usual. This was Elle. Lee's Elle. And she had spent the night in my bedroom ... it didn't matter that she had been alone. Her scent was still in the air and I was pretty sure that my sheets would smell a little bit like her, too.

I heard a small thud against my door and immediately thought she might have collapsed. The thought sent a jolt through me and I quickly made my way back toward the door when I heard her whisper, 'Oh. My. God.'

Yep. This was the confirmation I had needed. So not over her crush. And that made me very, very happy.

I put boxer shorts on ... my mum must not have gotten around to doing laundry yet, because only my superhero boxers were left. I went with Superman, shrugged and slipped into them. Realizing that I had forgotten my hair gel in the bathroom, I went to get it and ...

Thud.

Elle fell back suddenly as the door she had sat against was opened. Flat on her back she blinked up at me and before I knew it she was laughing at me, wholeheartedly.

'You wear Superman boxers!'

I looked down on myself, suddenly unsure which one I had picked again and shrugged. Yeah, I did. Problem? Nonetheless, I could not help but blush at the thought that we were now up to speed in terms of 'seen each other in our underwear' went. I smoothed over the awkward moment by smirking like I didn't care that she knew and that she had pointed it out poignantly, no less.

'You know you find them irresistible, Shelly!'

She blushed. Oh Elle, yes, it's quite obvious. I had had some experience with girls and her body and her facial expression gave me valuable insights into what she felt toward me.

'Oh yeah, right...' she scoffed, 'sure I do.'

She pushed herself to her feet this time and pulled the shirt down as far as it would go.

'I've seen you in your underwear, Shelly, what are you trying to hide,' I called after her but I think she may already be too far away. Or pretending not to hear me. Knowing Elle, the latter was more likely.


	6. Six

**_Wow, so nice of everyone to review my story so far. Thank you for coming back to comment, too! To the peeps that commented about spelling mistakes - I am aware, I will fix them as I find them, English is not my native language, but it's one close to a mother tonge. Still, things slip from my grasp and sometimes a dreaded auto-correct ruins my efforts, too! I do apologize. If you find anything, just send me a message and I'll happily correct whatever you found :-)_**

 ** _I love how the story has several blank spots that Noah's POV can fill. At first when you read the book, you don't really notice they're there but then when you take a closer look, you realize that there is so much more to this story than that's told so far and that is very exciting for anyone that wants to fill those blanks, eh?_**

 ** _I am planning to write some oneshots - any suggestions, wishes, maybe a challenge (words that need to be in the story etc.) ... send it my way and I'll write it for you. I feel like I've just been kissed by my muse :-)_**

 ** _Beth, I love you - thank you for the story and I hope you write a sequel :*_**

* * *

 **Six.**

Lee and Elle played video games for the rest of the day, really, while I got all of my homework done. College application process was done for the next school year and I was awaiting letters from several colleges, some of them Ivy League. Until then I had promised my parents to keep my grades up and that meant that I had to miss out on Elle kicking Lee's ass at Mario Kart. His constant defeat was clearly marked by the excited squeals from Elle that were pretty ... _audible_. For just a few moments my biology essay was forgotten as I imagined the sounds she'd make when I kissed her ... if I kissed her ... no, when I kissed her ...

Well, my mind totally went into the gutter there.

Elle's dress was now laid on my bed and I was concerned she might have forgotton I still had it in my room. She hadn't come upstairs to retrieve it, yet. I was contemplating whether or not to take it downstairs and tease her a little bit more about her almost stripper career ...

My will to concentrate on anything photosynthesis was gone out the door, anyway, so I got up, grabbed her dress and made my way downstairs.

Elle and Lee were still at it, Lee's Princess Peach constanly being bombarded with all things banana, shell or bomb and he was constantly complaining about Elle's luck or how her usually terrible aim in Mario Kart suddenly had taken a turn for the better. Lee was not happy at all. They hadn't noticed me standing in the door so I cleared my throat. It made Elle jump.

' _Noah_ ,' she said, while a content borderline sly grin formed on Lee's face as his Princess Peach overtook Elle's Luigi. No wonder he managed, though, since Elle had thrown her controller on the ground.

'Oh, I'm sorry,' I said and grinned, 'did I _startle_ you there, Shelly?'

'No, you most certainly did _not_ ,' she retorted and I could not fight back my grin when she, yet again, blushed furiously. Lee laughed.

'Oh, so it's part of the game to throw your controller away from time to time? I see, never knew _that_ ,' I teased her and she fell silent, looking down onto her hands that were holding the controller very tight. I could see her knuckles turn white.

'Whatever,' I added and threw her dress down onto the two seater sofa next to them, 'you forgot your dress in _my room_.' I purposefully strectched the 'my room' part and with a last triumphant glance I turned around to go back upstairs.

'You're an ass, Noah Flynn,' I heard Elle say.

'Yeah, I am one fine ass, I _know_ Shelly,' I shouted back, teasingly, but I didn't look back. I knew she was staring at said part of my body. I was sure of it. What can I say?

* * *

Lee drove Elle home since she was wearing a pair of his pants. I wasn't sure if or when I would be seeing my shirt again, but that didn't matter. It was a marvellous opportunity for teasing her as this shirt was a constant reminder of her waking up in my room and most importantly of me having seen her in her underpants. I still marvelled at how she'd be embarrassed about that when in fact I had seen her numerous times in her bikini. That was a mystery to me

Lee came back twenty minutes later and when he entered the kitchen I had just taken a zip of a can of soda and was leaning against the counter.

He didn't say anything to me when he made his way toward the fridge to retrieve a can of soda himself. I could tell there was something on his mind and I was pretty sure he was still pouting at my accusations from last night. After all I had told him that he hadn't taken his friendship duties seriously.

'You wanna tell me something?' I asked when a few minutes had passed in complete silence.

'Not really,' Lee answered but his snarky tone gave him away.

'Come on Lee, you're mad at me and I think we should talk about it.'

'Well, I think we shouldn't.'

'And why is that?' I pressed.

'Because it's none of your business,' Lee snapped and turned around to face me, his eyes burning into mine. Finally, a reaction. Now that was something I could work with.

'And it is none of my business ... how? You were the one that made me aware of Elle's little stripper situation and I am grateful you did that, Lee, she would have hated herself if anything more inappropriate were to have happened. You know that. All I've asked you last night and all I will ask you now is why you haven't intervened sooner. She's your best friend, it's your damn job!'

Had I just lectured Lee on his friendship? Looked like I had. Lee didn't look happy but his glance lessened in intensity and he sighed.

'You're right,' he said, 'I should have seen to her drinking a lot less than she drank. That one is on me. I am glad you took care of her, though. You needn't have...'

'Oh trust me, I had to...'

Lee suspiciously raised his eyebrow at me but didn't ask any further questions.

'What kept you occupied, anyway, young man?' I said and ruffled through Lee's hair. He hated it almost as much as Elle did. I laughed.

'See there is this girl...'

'Ah-ha!' I grinned in triumph before I took another sip from my soda, 'You were smooching a lady!'

'We were just getting to know each other a little better ...'

'Uh-Huh!'

'Shut up!'

'Does Elle know?'

'Yeah, I told her.'

'Is she mad at you for not saving her?'

'No, I apologized anyway. We're cool.'

'That's good.'

'She did say she was surprised you of all people saved her...' Lee said and he was watching me intently.

'Is that so?' I retorted, emptying my soda with one big gulp and tossing the can in the trash.

'Yeah, it had surprised us both, actually,' Lee said.

'And why is that? She's practically family...' I said, trying to lead him astray but Lee must have caught on to me hiding something. He suddenly became pretty somber.

'She's my best friend,' Lee said and he stressed the sentence just as he had been stressing it for the last couple of days, weeks even. He had claimed her as his best friend and hadn't I been the one to tell all the boys not to date her, Lee would have become close second to have that idea and make it happen. He was very protective of her, maybe even a little more than I was. Only I had absolutely no right to be protective of her. She may have had a crush on me before and there was this small hope inside me that she would actually consider me ... even if that meant that her relationship with Lee were to degrade. Would she ever choose me over her best friend, though? I guess not. I pushed further.

'She still has a crush on me, doesn't she?' I feigned innocence and searched his face for any clue.

'Maybe,' Lee said and averted my gaze. Bingo.

'Huh.'

'Noah...'

'Yeah?'

'Don't...'


	7. Seven

Guys, I fixed the last chapter, it got uploaded all wrong. Let me know if you still see chapter five again. I will then try to curse the website until it's fixed. Gaaaahhh.

Once again thanks for reading, commenting, lurking. I appreciate you. Also I encourage you guys to go ahead and writer your little one shots. Fill the blanks. Can't wait to read what you guys have to say.

* * *

 **Seven.**

Monday mornings were something I did not paricularly like and I didn't know any actual living person that did, to be honest. Although it marked a new beginning, a new week, new options to fixed missed opportunites, it was also another beginning of yet another school week. It's not that I dreaded school ... due to my popularity it was quite bearable to go. I just thought that a lot of the things that guys my age talked about were inappropriate and revolting. It never got to a point where I would be interested to know more about them, they just were my fellow football team mates and that was that, nothing more. Most of them were quite arrogant despite having basically nothing to show for. Most of them didn't even achieve good grades or stood out in any other form than being a member of the football team.

I arrived on the school grounds a bit earlier than normal because I had wanted to give my brother and Elle a head start. No need to make things get more awkward today. I was sure would hear the last of it in regards to her little number on that fateful pool table.

Cheering and laughter caught my attention and I turned around to see what was going on.

One of the guys, I think his name was Adam, started swinging his hips like a girl while a crowd formed around his little 'performance' and I immediately knew they were making fun of Elle. Only she wasn't laughing. When that guy started to pull his shirt out of his pants like he was going to strip, I had enough and quickly made my way over to the gathering as quickly as I could.

The closer I came the more I realized how furious Elle was. Her head had turned slightly reddish, her eyes were shooting daggers and she clenched her fists tightly. One sudden movement, I was sure, and she'd burst. She might even try to hurt the guy, which I would not blame her for. He was behaving like one big douchebag.

'Oh, grow up already' I heard Elle say through gritted teeth and I knew this was her last resort to actually retord peacefully.

Suddenly that Adam guy grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to him. How dare he?

Lee snapped and stepped closer, "Hey, back off!'

'Make me,' Mr Douchebag answered and then Elle lost it. Before she could land a hefty punch in Mr Douchebag's face, I quickly caught her hand. She tried to wrestle me off but I just held her hand still and used my other hand to land a full swing onto Mr. Douchebag's jaw.

Everyone around us cheered.

'Fight! Fight! Fight!'

Suddenly, the crowd grew in size. They all seemed to be attracted by two guys fighting. I didn't mind, after all, I was just defending Elle's honor, right? Apart from the roaring 'Fight! Fight!' cheers there were quite a few female squeals coming from the crowd.

Elle tried to drag me away from Mr. Douchebag whose lip was split and it was bleeding. Good, he deserved that.

'Noah!' Elle yelled repeatedly and I partially came back from my trance but I was still focussed on the task at hand, telling this Adam off and making him realize that there were certain lines he should not have crossed.

'Dude, if you like her, that's fine,' one of the other guys, Thomas, scoffed at me and I turned around to face him, 'but I'm sure there's plenty to go around.'

I do not know how he managed to dodge my punch, but he did, which left me furious. I started panting as he looked at me daring me to continue, daring me to punch him, too.

Elle had heard it, too. Oh. She glared at him, 'what did you say?'

'You heard me,' Thomas said with a wink.

'That's it,' I growled and lunged forward.

'Flynn!' I heard one of our teachers yelling as he barged through the crowd that dispersed quickly. Everyone seemed to be needed elsewhere, I guess. Only then did I realize that Elle stood right in front of me. She pushed my chest.

'What is all this about?' we heard Vice Principal Pritchett say and turned around to face him.

Elle obviosuly tried to calm down the situation and said, 'It's just a big misunderstanding, really!'

Pritchett wasn't buying it, 'All of you, one week's detention. Noah Flynn, Rogers, my office now. You too, Rochelle."

She gaped, 'What did I do?'

'Nothing, but I'd like a word with you.'

She sighed and then Lee was there by her side. Where I should have been. I fought down a snarl as this was my brother and none of the other douchebags. He mumbled something into Elle's ear which she listened to, shook her head and then ressponded with something that made Lee laugh. Hm.

Lee then wandered off after he wished Elle good luck and she threw herself on one of the chairs in front of the principal's and the vice principal's office. I sat down next to her and stayed silent. Somehow I wanted her to say something first. Mr Douchebag followed the vice principal into his office and shot me a glare as he did so. The door closed behind them and Elle and I were sat there waiting for the things to come.

'Thanks,' she said quietly.

I sat up.

'Nobody can treat a girl like that and get away with it. Especially if that girl is you.' I meant it, surely, she must know I meant it, right?

She peeked at me, not sure if she should fully face me.

'Well, thank you. You didn't have to interfere, though. I mean, you could've let me land one punch!' She sounded disappointed that all the strength she had put into this punch had not come to fruitition.

'It would have been a good punch, I'll give you that.'

'Why did you stop me? Elle blurted out.

I shrugged. 'To be honest, I am not sure...'

'In fact, while I am at it, why did you need to get involved? Lee and Dixon and Cam would've been fine,' she added and raised her eyebrow questioningly.

'Maybe.'

'You're avoiding my question.'

I grinned. 'Yeah, I am. I guess ... I didn't want to see you get in a fight and I didn't like hearing them talk to you like that...' I trailed off, hoping she didn't register the emotional undertone to my statement. I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. Elle stared at me, eyes widened. I wasn't sure what made me say the next damn thing but I did anyways.

'I guess you're just like my little sister or something,' I said and I could tell how instantly disappointed she was. Oh.

'Oh, yeah,' she said, 'Of course.'

I nodded. Then shook my head. Then nodded again. I was debating whether or not I should just tell her. How did other people do that? Did they just blurt it out? Did they bring flowers at least? How did those things work?

'No, not today,' I thought and nodded again. Case closed.

She must have felt the awkward atmosphere and casually said, 'Do you reckon you'll be in much trouble?'

'Nah, I never am. Especially not when they find out that I was just defending your honor,' I smirked.

'Ha-ha!' she snapped back and rolled her eyes at me, 'I was being serious!'

I shook my head and tried to explain, 'I never start fights. I just finish them. You know. In my defense.'

'I don't see why I have to be here though.'

'Oh, they'll want a witness, just to verify stuff or something. They usally like that.' I said and she looked at me, looking slightly more reassured. I knew Elle never got into any trouble so this experience was brand new.

She laughed, looked at me and shook her head. We then sat in silence for quite a while and it was nice. I liked having her close and the silence didn't get uncomfortable at all. Aftere a few more minutes, Thomas aka Mr Douchebag came out of the office and I was called in. Elle mouthed 'Good luck' and smiled at me and that was all I needed. I decided to tease her a little, smirked and saluted my damsel in distress before I went in.

The vice principal gestured me to close the door behind me.

'Flynn, Flynn, Flynn...' he said, 'what have you gotten yourself into this time?'

'Nothing much, Mr Pritchett, nothing much,' I said and grinned.

'We can't continue to do this every other week, Mr Flynn and you know that, don't you?' he said.

'Yeah,' I said.

'Why don't you tell me what happened?' Pritchett said and leaned back in his chair, watching me intently. I told him how I had seen the crowd forming and how Thomas had made highly inanpropriate comments about Elle. I explained how I had wanted to spare her the trouble of landing that punch myself and Pritchett laughed at my remark.

'You think she'd actually punch him, though?' he asked and I just grinned. We both nodded in mutual understanding and I finished up with what had happened.

'Alright, Mr Flynn, thank you for coming to my office with me and explaining your little 'cafuffle' to me. Would you mind sending Rochelle in, please?'

'Not at all, vice principal,' I grinned and walked toward the door.

'Mr Flynn?'

'Yes?'

'Next time someone insults your girlfriend ... don't punch him please.'

How on earth would Pritchett ... what? No! She was not my girlfriend! 'But you did make it look like she was and that you cared about her. Quite a lot, Noah,' a little voice inside me said. Oh.

I stepped out of the vice principal's office, shot her a smile that said 'it's ok' and then the vice principal called 'Rochelle?' and she went inside. Phew.


	8. Eight

**Eight.**

* * *

I was pretty sure that Elle would not get into any sort of trouble from the little 'disagreement' we've had earlier with who I now called internally 'Thomas the douchebag'. As I had told Elle before, Pritchett probably just wanted to confirm everyone's stories. I didn't see neither Elle nor Lee until lunch so the confirmation that she had indeed gotten off lightly needed to wait until I saw either of them. Come lunch break I was surrounded by a few cheerleaders who had heard of my heroic rescue ( they called it heroic, I didn't! ) and who naturally wanted to know how much of it was true, so they chatted me up. I didn't mind their chit chat and I answered truthfully.

Yes, Adam had indeed asked Elle for a repeat performance of her drunken stripping attempt.

 _Yes_ , I did think that was _totally_ inappropriate.

No, I didn't think Thomas should have said something, too.

No, I didn't have a girlfriend.

Yes, I was sure of it.

No, I didn't want one. (Hm. Hmmmmm.)

Yes, I was sure of it.

No, I didn't have someone to bring to the carnival.

No, I genuinely didn't mind going alone.

Yes, I would be attending.

Yes, I had heard of the different ideas for the booths.

No, I had no intention to join any of them.

Yes, I was sure of that, too.

I was pretty sure I wasn't actually the best source for gossip and judging by the fact that the girls left one by one, that was the case. They must have decided to embark in a journey towards greener pastures aka. better sources of gossip. I inwardly hoped they would spare Elle but I knew damn well they would want all the hot info from the source, the leading eye-witness. I peeked into the mess hall and saw how a few girls, juniors and seniors alike, simultaneously sat down next to Elle who looked shell-shocked. I knew she wasn't unpopular, quite the contrary, but she tried to stay out of trouble as best as she could and that didn't mean any stories worth being shared by others or worse ... the entire school. I really could not do anything to help her out here, though. It would raise suspicion and I genuinely needed a little time to myself after this morning. After all, I had to tell my parents I had gotten into another fight. They would not be pleased with me, this much was crystal clear.

As I was quietly retreating from the mess hall entrance I saw my brother Lee emerging from the bathroom.

'Hey Lee,' I said and he turned back around, facing me.

'Hey,' he hummed, clearly not in the mood for many words.

'Pritchett left her be?' I asked, genuinely concerned.

'Yeah,' Lee responded, 't'was nothing. Just wanted to know what her side of the story was, that's all.'

I sighed in relief. No need to get the ever so kingly and righteous Elle into any sort of trouble ... despite the fact that she had been the one who'd decided to land the first punch ... after all, I had to worry about football practice later. It had happened before that the coach had sidelined me for getting into a fight but we had a big game coming up that I really didn't want to miss. Watching your team mates from the sideline, sitting on that goddamn bench made things way worse for me, actually.

'Well, that's good to hear.'

'Yeah...' Lee trailed off, watching me intently.

'What?' I snapped.

'Nothing, I am just really curious ... what brought your sudden heroism up,' Lee chuckled and punched me on the arm, lightly.

'What can I say, I just love to be a hero,' I diverted but smiled, 'what are you up to anyway, no lunch?'

'Ah, no, I just peeked in there and it looks like Elle is surrounded by a gaggle of females that is _very_ interested in her non-existent love-life and whatever the hell happened on that parking lot earlier tis morning and I really didn't need to sit next to _THAT_...' Lee explained and I chuckled. I had interpreted the scene in the messhall correctly then.

'Whats on the agenda instead?' I asked, still curious.

'Woodwork. We have to get going on the booth ...' Lee said.

'Ahhhhhh, the Kissing Booth-thingy-majiggy!' I grinned and he returned my smile.

'No ducks...'

'No ducks!'

'Are you sure you don't at least want to come by the booth eventually?' Lee asked and I was sure he already knew what the answer was going to be.

'I can't imagine something more abhorrent and cringeworthy.'

'So that's a no?'

'Lee!'

'Sorry!'

* * *

Things started to irritate me the next day. The talking had not yet stopped though it had slowed down significantly but that was not what jangled my nerves. I seemed to have lost my effect on a lot of the males in this school in terms of being douchebags and sleazebags around Elle and it drove me insane. It was true that I had been very protective of Elle in the past few years and this had only intensified when she ... well when she got more adorable. Ever since her slightly more ... outgoing presentation at the party recently, it seemed like those guys did not know and boundaries. They became more straight-forward and bolder and even though there were no wolf-whistles or inappropriate remarks made whenever I was around, I knew they were emboldened by recent events and a trusty Elle who would never assume anything else than decency from basically anyone would be utterly screwed if I didn't continue to intervene. At least this is what I kept telling myself.

I knew their sudden empowerment would inevitably lead to more situations like yesterday's and I didn't know how I felt about that. Quite frankly, I didn't know how I would feel if indeed any of the guys asked Elle out or even worse they asked her out and she would actually say yes.

It was not that I wanted her to have a disadvantage or her not to have joy in her life, I wasn't sabotaging her out of spite or anything. I just didn't want her to get hurt, that's all.

Really, who was I kidding with that?

Somehow she had turned from my brother's bestie into someone I cared for more than I should. I had always been her big brother, too, it felt like it when we were growing up and it still did but lately she was just driving me insane. She was witty, she wasn't scared of me, she was who she was whenever I was around and that was normal and comforting. Plus, she was really really cute. That she had always been but since she was my brother's best friend and basically my sister, it had never really occurred to me to see her as a girl.

That's so shallow, isn't it?

There was also the weirdness of it, me dating my brother's best friend. Things could get awkward so quickly in that constellation in case we broke up or had a fight or Lee and Elle got into a fight ... I tried to tell myself that the logical thing to do was to not even consider Elle to be ... what exactly, my girlfriend? I didn't have girlfriends, I had flings, I had makeout companions, I had stolen kisses under the bleachers, I didn't have girlfriends. I didn't even know how to have one. Not that there weren't any applicants...

Wait, girlfriend?

Elle was not my girlfriend. But it sure felt like I wanted her to be. I was lost. When did she made me think of her that way and how did she do it? What felt even more overwhelming was what my brother Lee would say if he knew. I kind of suspected him to have an idea by now, at least assuming that I liked her a little more than a little sister or a friend. Recently he had started shooting me little glances over dinner and I pretended like I hadn't seen them. I had, though. Every weekend we had lunch with Elle, her litlle brother and her father and those two hours were the hardest of my weekends. I kept pretending that nothing had changed whatsoever while it had and it was a lot of work keeping it together for the sake of it. It didn't help much to have Lee shooting me little looks and Elle being confused by it. In case her father caught up to what was going on, I was probably going to end up trapped in a very uncomfortable conversation that included his absolute and inevitable dissent and disapproval. Mr. Evans had the potential to scare basically anyone, even myself. In some sense we were equally protective of his daughter and would not risk her to get hurt; I just doubted he would believe my intentions given what my reputation was.

I still didn't fathom to think of Elle as my girlfriend. Would she even consider the idea of was that just too far-fetched? I could not help but wonder if she'd seen how longingly I had looked into her eyes ... clearly, she must have realized I was thinking about kissing her right there and then. Right? Right?

* * *

My mood got way worse just as I was about to head off home after school that Tuesday when I overheard two guys in the hallway who were ... who would have guessed ... talk about Elle. Only it wasn't so much her drunk escapades that they were discussing but the fact that she had indeed agreed to go on a date with Cody.

'Yeah, pretty sure all that's left of Cody is gonna be a pile of dust once Noah is done with him,' one of the guys said, emptying out his locker. The other one laughed in confirmation.

'He's got a lot of guts to ask her, though, she is very pretty,' the second one said. I clenched my fists but I had to agree. She was pretty, she was one of a kind and she should not ...

'Yeah, I would have asked her way sooner but I am damn scared of Flynn,' the first one said and I clenched my fists but grinned. They knew me so well, they knew I wasn't someone to displease. At all. I tucked myself further down into the corner and waited for more information. I knew recent events would make them bolder, I had waited for it happen but I genuinely hadn't anticipated for it to happen that soon.

'Ha, me too,' the second one laughed.

'I am surprised she said yes, though,' the first one pondered.

'Yeah, me too, I thought she had a thing for Flynn, too. And now that he's all openly protective and shit, I thought he'd finally realized he's into her,' the second one said and I winced at the remark. I had, thank you very much.

'Well, he should have asked her out, then,' the first one said matter-of-factly and I winced again. If only it were this easy.

* * *

I came home to an empty house a little while later and found a note from my mom that read: 'Told Lee to get groceries after school. Can I get you to find all your dirty socks and put them into the laundry basked?'

Yeah, as if I didn't have enough dirty laundry washed in public recently ... this totally fit the past weeks. A weak smile tugged at the corners of my mouth as I vowed to comply with the request my mother had made on a pink post-it note. I found a second post-it note for Lee that said 'please also get milk.' I poured myself a glass of water and placed it on the counter.

Soon after I heard the door open and called: 'Mom said you need to get some more milk, we're all out!'

I heard a voice respond that I didn't anticipate and I winced and then my heart did a sommersault. Elle.

'He's already gone,' Elle called back, 'It's me.'

I grabbed the glass of water and went toward the hallway and ... _THUD_. When they say think of the glass half empty of half full ... pretty sure it had nothing to do with splashing it onto someone, especially not the girl you like. _Shit_.

She gaped and jumped back a mile. Well, of course she would, it was ice cold water. _Shit. Shit. Shit!_

'Noah!' she yelled and plucked at her top. It was plastered to her skin, outlining her curves like a second skin. She was wearing a pink bra today, I noticed, and I fought down a grin and .. something else. I am pretty sure she'd be able to tell what I was thinking, it was hard to hide my attraction. I gulped down my emotions, trying to steady my breathing before I had to speak again and my jaw clenched. My brows furrowed in concentration as I carefully evaluated my next steps. Keep it together, Noah!

'What? What's that look for?' she asked and I could tell that she was not happy with me whatsoever. She barged past me into the kitchen.

'Hey, what's that on your arm?' I asked her. No answer. She was starting to make my blood boil for different reasons now. 'Is it true you got a date with some kid?'

She gulped down the entire glass of water and slammed the glass onto the kitchen counter.

'Jeez, Noah! What does it matter? I already heard from Lee I'm too nice - you don't need to be on my case, too!'

'You didn't answer my question,' I stated, because ... well ... she hadn't.

'You didn't answer mine, either!'

'I asked first, Rochelle!' She was ... so goddamn annoying. So goddamn cute. So goddamn going on a date with someone else. She turned around to face me. 'Yeah, I have a date with Cody. He's a nice guy.'

I scowled, 'A nice guy? Elle, are you serious? Do you even know the guy? I mean, _really_ know him?'


	9. Nine

**Chapter Eight is updated with more than 2000 words for your guilty reading pleasure now. Double-update, yay!  
**

* * *

 **Nine.**

* * *

'Well, no, not really. But that's why I am going on a date. To get to know him better. That's what people tend to do, you know? Oh wait - no, sorry, you wouldn't know, Mr Player. You just screw girls and ditch them the next morning. So long as you know their name it's all ok,' she blurted out. I was making her angry. Much.

'He just wants to get in your pants, 'I simply said.

'Since when?' she cried out and threw out her hands, 'How would you know, anyway? You don't even know him?' That was an easy assumption, given that I was Noah Flynn. Everyone knew me, I knew everyone. I knew stories she had no idea about and I was not going to tell her too much but ...

'Cody Kennedy. Concert pianist. Takes some AP classes.'

She blinked. Good. She hadn't anticipated that.

'Yeah,' I said, a smug grin on my face, 'I know who I am talking about. And you know something else, Shelly? He just wants in your pants, like any other guy.'

'So you're telling me that thre's not one respectable boy in school who doesn't just want a girl for sex? Or maybe you're trying to say that's all I'd be good for? Do I really have no personality, Noah?' - Oh boy, here we go.

'I didn't say that,' I said, 'but they're all the same.'

'How would you know? YOU are the reason I haven't had a date in my entire life! Why would you even do that?' Oh- she knew. Oh. Shit. I guess I owed her an explanation for that one.

'You trust people way too easily,' I snapped and immediately hated myself for snapping at her and coming off rude when in fact I wanted to explain things to her so that she's see... 'A guy would just have to tell you he loved you and he wouldn't be wating on you much longer!' That's how they talked about girls, that's how they suger coated the fact that they were interested in getting in girls' pants. No real interest for them and Cody had no real interest in finding out who Elle was, just what she was wearing underneath her school uniform.

'Do you really think I am that easy?' Elle glared at me, her tone disapproving. She was so mad. If only she'd see ... before I knew it I punched the kitchen door with my fist. It slammed shut and bounced back off the doorframe.

'Damn it, can't you just listen to me for once in your life? I am trying to look out for you here!'

'I don't need looking out for!' she shouted back at me, aggravated, 'can't you just stay out of my life? I think I can handle going on a date, Noah!'

'How would you know?' I snapped, 'Guys are always checking you out and saying how hot you are and shit- have you never noticed? If one idiot thinks he can date you and then hurt you, he's got another think coming!' I said it and I meant it. I could tell she knew I was furious but some parts of her did know that I had a point, she'd never admit that, but still...

She screamed in frustration, 'Just stay out of my life!' Really, how could I stay out of her life when she had been in my life for the past sixteen something years and was going to be in it for a good while longer without my doing?

'You'll end up getting hurt!'

'I won't. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big girl now. I _can_ take care of myself!'

'Which is why you were stripping off in front of everybody on Saturday?' She had brought it up, I was just reminding her of how adult she had acted. She had, after all, done that.

'I was drunk!' Lame excuse, Shelly, lame excuse.

'And who got stuck looking after you?'

'I didn't ask you to! I didn't ask you to tell boys to stay away from me either!' She tried to make her way past me but I would not let her. Not right in the middle of an important conversation we were having. I grabbed her arm, not too firmly, but still didn't leave much room for doubt that I intended her to stay put.

'Hey, we are not finished here, Rochelle!'

She spun around and pushed at my chest as hard as she could, though really, it didn't budge me.

'Whoa!' a new voice yelled and Elle and I looked at Lee who was standing in the doorway, holding two grocery bags. He watched us with his eyes widened and his expression shocked. I was still holding Elle's arm.

'What are you guys klling each other,' Lee tried to lighten the mood, 'what did I miss?' We didn't respond and whilst I didn't know why Elle didn't answer Lee's question I knew why I wasn't ... this was a lover's quarrel despite us not being lovers, really. A third person had no place in our ... discussion. Elle and I glared at each other, trying to force the other to break the silence with stares. Here we go!

'Nothing,' Elle said, eventually. She broke our glance, 'I'll see you upstairs, Lee.'

Elle went upstairs, not looking back. Lee shot me a stern look and came into the kitchen to shove the grocery bags onto the counter.

'You got a problem putting things away, Noah? I think I should go upstairs. What did you do this time?' Lee asked, raising an eyebrow.

'She got a date,' I blurted out before I could hold myself back and I hated myself for how hurt I sounded. Clearly, Lee caught that but didn't say anything except for: 'I see.'

'Look, all I am doing is looking out for her here, Lee, you gotta know that, right?'

'I hate to break the news to you, Noah, but Elle can damn well decide who she can or can't go on dates with. Unlike you, you know? I think you overstepped the moment you told other guys to stay away from her,' Lee said and a part of me knew he was right as far as the overstepping part went.

'They will hurt her, Lee,' I said.

'Then that's her choice to make, her experiences to have,' Lee said, all grown-uppy and wise. Again, he was somewhat right but then ...

'You would not have wanted to ask her out yourself, would you?' Now he caught me off guard. 'Lie, Noah, lie...'

'Never mind,' Lee said, catching my dumbfounded expression, 'that would have been weird anyway.' And with that he left me in the kitchen to unload the contents of the grocery bag. After I was done and realized he had not gotten the milk as he must have gone to the stores right after the school missing mom's post-it, I decided that I needed some fresh air.

* * *

Elle avoided me like the plague after our encounter in the kitchen a few days back and I didn't blame her for that. Things got worse when I started to miss her even though she was just two rooms further down in Lee's room whenever she came over. She would not leave his room except to go to the bathroom and even then she made sure I was not around to see her in the hallway.

Our weekly family gettogether lunch was cancelled due to the hefty amount of work my parents had and I was pretty annoyed when my mother told me. The one occasion Elle could not dodge me was not going to happen and it just put a giant rain cloud over my head for the entire rest of the week. It even went that far as to my mother asking if I was ok since I acted all weird lately. I brushed it off as nonsense.

The closer Friday came, the more anxious I got for Elle. She was supposed to go to the movies with Cody that night and I was antsy all morning. Lee caught my mood and I didn't know which fresh hell his idea came from but he pretended to have some chores to do and suggsted that I'd drive Elle to her date. He had grinned as he had dangled his car keys into my face.

I gave in, climbed into Lee's car and drove to Elle's house, parking right in front of it. I balled my hands into fists and relaxed them again to let go of my anxiety but I feared the worst outcome for this 'date' but I also didn't want to ruin anything for her.

She ran around the car, climbed into the passenger seat and said breathlessly, 'Sorry, but it can't hurt to keep him waiting a little, right?' She seemed to be nervous as she looked at me and then her expression changed to pure shock, then disgust. Oh dear. She groaned loudly.

'Noah! What are you doing here?'

'Lee had to finish some chores,' I said, trying not to emphasize any underlying quotation marks with my voice indicating that this may not be true, 'which means I have to be your chauffeur tonight!'

'If you'd told me, I would've got a taxi or asked my dad to give me a ride. Why didn't Lee text me and let me know?"

'I assumed he did,' I said but I had not assumed he had. Lee full well knew Elle would not have gotten into the car with me after our fight.

'No.'

'Well, then, I don't know,' I said and twisted around in my driver's seat to see what outfit she had picked out. She plucked her sweater nervously which made me chuckle lightly. She knew I was just making sure she was dressed apporpriately, right? It was the perfect cover to also check her out but she wasn't allowed to know just yet.

'Does it look ok?' she sounded insecure and I hated that she felt so self-conscious. She was gorgeous and she must know she was. 'I don't know if it's too casual or what ... thanks to a certain someone that shall not be named or specified now, I've not done this before.'

I smiled dryly at the remark, 'It's fine.'

'How's my hair?' What was with the looks? Did I have to spell 'gorgeous' for her? G - O - R ...

'Okay?' I half-asked, unsure as to what the best thing to say was, here. I put the car in gear to get things going and shrugged at her, 'at least you dressed like normal.'

'What do you mean, _like normal_?'

'Normal for you. I mean, you're not showing too much skin or anything.'

'Wow, I think that was almost a compliment?' Her eyebrows shot up and she chuckled.

'Not quite. But Elle, if this guy tries anything, and I mean _anything_ -'

'Noah, he's a guy. I'm a girl. Lots of people kiss on the first date, you know? It's not like he's going to try and get me to sleep with him halfway through the movie. This isn't you we're talking about!'

I shrugged off the insult but I was scowling at the remark.

'I'm just saying...'

We didn't say anything for the next couple of minutes, it was just me driving down the streets of Los Angeles and Elle sitting in the passenger seat, taking in the lit neon signs and the traffic. After quite a while she opened her mouth but shut it again only to say: 'I think I've spoken to you more in the past week than in the whole of this last year.'

'Yeah. Weird,' I said because what could I really say? 'I've fallen hard for you, Elle Evans, and you going on a date and me driving you to said date is excruciating? I wanna kiss you so bad right now?' Nope, not an option.

She rolled her eyes at me, because, why would she not. I was making a fool out of myself and she knew it. She was right, though, our contact had been merely casual over the last months and it had intensified with recent events, that was very true. If only she'd go on that date with me now...

'Thanks for the ride,' she eventually said.

'Fine. Are you going to be needing a ride home?'

'Cody said he'll take me home. If not, I'll call my dad or Lee.' It hurt that she had not considered calling me, too, but then again, it was to be expected. She thought I was behaving like an asshole and I got her point.

'Okay.'

She rolled her eyes at me and got out of the car. I drove off only to find myself unable to leave the scene in case Cody did turn out to be the pathetic loser I knew he was. I parked Lee's car on a valet nearby and walked back for a few minutes only to see her standing on the sidewalk, looking down on her phone.

'Stood up?' I non-chalantly said and caught her off guard because she jumped out of her skin, quickly put her phone into her left hand and smacked me across the chest with her right hand.

'Don't scare me like that!' she yelled, 'and no, he's on his way!'

I could not help but smirk at her, 'I thought you said you wanted to keep him waiting...'

'Yeah, well...'

'Told you so!'

'Noah, go home. What are you, anyway, stalking me?'

'Just enjoying the show,' I said, smirking again, 'you look like you've been stood up, you know?'

'Well, not so much now you're here, really,' she said sarcastically but my heart jumped twice as fast for a moment. I could just step in, to ... save her night, right? Nice save, had to give her that.

'Ha! Don't look so stupid now, do I? Besides, Cody's probably just caught in traffic or something, it's no big deal.'

I nodded, doubts on my mind. Sleazebag, douchebag, disgusting little fella...

Another few minutes were spent in complete silence and I couldn't help but notice that it felt awkward yet comfortable at the same time. It was good being just ... us. I could tell she was internally debating whether or not she should keep a conversation going because her mouth opened and closed a few times. She was probably still mad at me, though, and could not decide whether or not she wanted to forgive me. I leaned against the lamp post opposite to her and just watched her. She was just someone I liked to look at and since she had been avoiding me all week, it was nice to finally get to see her and ... _see_ her.

Another voice came closer toward us and we both turned our heads to see Cody make his way up to us.

'Hey,' Cody said, eyeing the weird combination he clearly didn't expect. I gritted my teeth and gave him an ice-cold look. How I could not stand this guy, especially since he got to go on a date with Elle and I didn't and I ... I was pretty sure my look resonated my antipathy and ever so intentional.

'Isn't it time you left, Noah?' Cody said and he just made me angrier with that. I glared at him before I shrugged and made my way back to Lee's car. I hated to leave her alone with Cody but I had no choice.


	10. Ten

_**Hey Beth, please don't sue me for taking your story and turning it into Noah's POV. I just found it to be so goddamn interesting ... well, I still do not intend to commit any copyright infringement. Before you sue me, I'd happily take this down ;-) xoxo  
**_

 _ **If you haven't seen it, Wayfarers published 'Swimming in Stars', the song from the kissing scene and I think the entire thing is so beautiful. Go check it out, it's on Youtube, Spotify and I got it on Apple Music :)**_

 _ **I dusted off my Twitter Account which is DanniieHey and if you have a Twitter and you fancy giving me a follow there, I'd love to chat more with all of you! xoxo**_

* * *

 **Ten.**

The next Monday eventually came along and the rumor train had once again reached supersonic dimensions. I heard people whisper about something to each other in the halls but had no idea what things were about this time. I had not heard how Elle's date with Cody had turned out. Lee would not say a single word about it and I eventually stopped pestering about it when I saw his eyerolls. Cody had been the first guy to ask ell out in spite of my daunting wrath and this surely must have been the number one topic today. People were curious as to how it went and I did not fully blame them. I wanted to know, too! The necessity to keep my interest on the down low, however, meant that I eventually had to wait until the rumors arrived at my doorstep instead of being able to actively claiming to receive the knowledge. Everything else was too risky and even asking Lee had turned into something I'd rather not do.

I started to think that Lee knew.

Question was, what precisely did he think he knew.

He's always had an intuition that helped him figure out what people thought, before they were thinking of it themselves, he had a way of telling what you needed without you saying anything. He was a genuinely good person and I don't think I tell him enough quite frankly but he's a really good brother to me. Sometimes I wondered how he felt about me being the (unvoluntarily so) star of our high school. Did it bother him to be 'the younger brother of Noah Flynn' or was he content with not being in the spotlight? Why have I never thought of actually asking him that?

I didn't know.

What I did know a couple of hours later was that Elle had not kissed Cody on their date. I wasn't sure whether or not he was hurt by it, he didn't let on apparently, but he claimed he had had a nice evening but there had just not been any kissing involved. People were disappointed with that, clearly, since they thought I had loosened my grasp on Elle and guys now had a shot.

They didn't.

The farther the day progressed I learned that Elle had not only not kissed Cody, he even commented on how she hadn't wanted to kiss him. Generally, guys like Cody won't be as honest about anything that could potentially hurt their reputation unless it helps them further along the way. I was pretty sure he was making her look bad by telling she wasn't having a kiss so that he'd still somewhat looked good in the eyes of the rest of the female populus at our school.

Interestingly enough the rumor emersed that Elle had felt sick and therefore didn't want to risk passing whatever she had on to Cody. The moment I heard that story, I knew it wasn't true. Elle was clumsy, sometimes forgetful, she hated mondays but she wasn't a lier and that one was a lie if I ever heard one. Something else must have happened, something both of them were too embarrassed to share. I was surprised people seemed to buy that lie, though.

There was only one person who could tell me what had happened at Elle and Cody's date and I wasn't sure whether or not to risk it. Later that week I decided I just had to know.

I knocked at Lee's door and his muffled 'Come in' came mere seconds later.

'Sorry, am I disturbing something?' I chuckled when I entered the room and found just Lee's feet, sticking out from under the bed.

'Ha-ha! It's my turn to find all of my laundry and I sincerely have no idea how so much of it is under my bed...' Lee sighed and robbed out from under his bed, dust on his black t-shirt.

'Maybe it's because you just shove it under the bed whenever Elle comes over so she doesn't have to see just how messy you really are ...' I mocked him and he stuck his tongue out to me. Smooth mention of Elle's name, I thought to myself, now let's find out how that goddamn date went.

'That may or may not be true,' Lee said and tossed two dirty socks into a laundry basket that stood next to his desk, 'now what do I owe the blessing of your physical presence?'

I fidgeted. I didn't know whether or not to just ask Lee whatever information he had on Elle's date. It would raise suspicion, no matter what I did.

'What is it?' the ever so perceptive Lee caught my uneasiness.

'I just ...' I trailed off, suddenly reconsidering, 'it's nothing.'

I made an attempt to quickly retreat from my brother's room when Lee surprised me.

'I am supposed to say the date went fine, in case you ever asked me about it, which of course you have not...' Lee said and I turned around, cautious as to what he had to say next, but appreciative for his spot-on anayisis of what I didn't dare to ask seconds earlier, 'I am not supposed to tell you just exactly how bad it went. I am not supposed to tell you she didn't want to kiss him, she was just considering to do it because she felt obliged to since it was a date...'

My jaw clenched. She was just too nice.

'I told her she was too nice,' God! This guy was able to read minds!

'Ok,' I pressed out.

'I told her she wasn't obliged to kiss anyone just because it was a date and she's never had one,' with that he eyed me and shot me a sarcastic look that correctly blamed that fact on me, 'and she wasn't feeling it, so she chickened out. I told her good for her, it has to come naturally, you know?'

'Gotcha,' I grinned.

'Lots of people reckon you scared him off and that's why there was no kissing,' Lee added and my grin widened to a full on smile, 'but what reason would you have to keep Elle Single, right?'

Oh.

Lee waited for me to say something but I was caught off guard. I carefully evaluated my next steps and all I could think of was shrugging my shoulders.

'She'll kiss someone when the time is right,' Lee suddenly said and my eyes widened. What was he suggesting? Was he suggesting anything? Goddamn, I did not understand my brother at all!

'I'm sure she will,' I pressed out before heading for my room to think.

'Noah?'

'Yes?'

'You never heard this from me, understood?'

'Clear as daylight!' I said, turned around, saluted and grinned.

'You're an asshole!' Lee grinned and threw a pillow at me.

'Whatever...'

I didn't think Lee knew just how much brighter my day had just become.

* * *

The next Wednesday rolled on and that meant my football team had its next practice. Thankfully I wasn't sidelined as I feared but the coach said one more disciplinary action and I would miss out on the next match. We wrapped up practice a litte earlier than ususal and the coach sent us showering. We all gladly complied. It had rained a day earlier, one of those rare rain days in Los Angeles had brought pouring down rain for the first time in forever and it had been enough to mud up the football field. We were all equally muddy. We all poured into the corridor that led to the locker rooms and suddenly the guys in front of me slowed down to a complete stop. I had been talking to one of the line backers and bumped into one of my team members that had also slowed down to almost a complete stop.

'What's going on?' I asked but they were all preoccupied with something.

'What happened?' Jason asked the person they were seeing. I still didn't get a view on to whoever it was but I didn't have to. I knew that voice.

'We were painting the banner for our booth,' I could hear Elle say, 'Lee had a bucket of paint. Do I really need to say anything more?'

The group slowly started to dissipate.

'Aw come on,' Elle said and twirled around, 'Do I look that bad?'

'Well, I'd pay to see you in the art gallery,' our second full back laughed at her which earned him a eye roll. Good! Elle turned around to make her way towards the girls' changing room and called a heartly goodbye over her shoulder. Did she not understand that her unbuttoned shirt had cause some ... disturbance in the force?

I quickly followed her and grabbed her arm which must have caught her off guard since she half-fell and I had to steady her. She turned to face me and in that instant her good mood dissappeared and frown formed.

'Oh!'

'What are you doing?' I could not help but hiss at her which I immediately regretted seeing how furious she already looked, but I had a point to make. Again. 'You don't walk around half dressed, Elle!'

'I'll walk around however the hell I want, thanks,' she snapped back at me, clarly aggravated. She jerked my arm away, suddenly aware I was still holding it to keep the physical contact. I craved it. 'It's no big deal. It's not like I'm prancing around in my underwear, for Pete's sake!'

'Yeah, but still...' I could not help but let my eyes wander down toward the two open buttons of her blouse and the fact that this gave me quite a good sight onto her collarbone and the little necklace that she was wearing which beautifully nestled ... Gee, can I try to get it together for once? I was acting worse than the guys I warned Elle of. I steadied myself and gave Elle a stern look.

'Leave me alone already!' she exclaimed, visibly upset 'honestly it's bad enough you're being so overprotective, but you don't have to be so ... extreme!'

'So what happened with you and Cody? I know for a fact that the whole 'being sick' thing was a lie,' I said, catching her off guard. Two can play this game and this round could be mine.

She gaped.

Ok that was pretty unfair but I just had to see what she'd do if confronted with that assumption and so far her reaction was .. telling. I had been the one to drive her to the date, had she been sick, I had to have been the person to know that. She could not fool me.

'You didn't tell anybody, did you?

'I don't gossip,' I said and this much was true, I just listened to it whenever it was convenient to me, I'd never actively participate, 'And no. I didn't tell them. Because I figured you had a good reason. So what went down?'

Of course I knew the answer from Lee but I wanted to see if she was willing to tell me, me of all people, the truth.

She shrugged, 'nothing.'

Ok? I had to press harder.

'Something clearly happened - I know you well enough to spot when you're lying. So what's the truth?'

She bit the inside of her cheek and fell silent again. I knew she was debating whether or not to tell me, absolutely blissfully unaware that Lee had already told me ... wait a minute. She suddenly looked moony. Was she checking me out? Oh Elle ...

'He was going to kiss me at the end of the night but I kissed him on the cheek instead. He didn't try to do anything, it was a totally normal stuation and I made a fool of myself by turning my head. It's not a big deal. I chickened out, ok? It got blown out of proportion. It's just embarrassing.'

I studied her face for a little while but since I already knew her story checked out, I decided a little more teasing needed to be done.

'That's it? You're sure?' I was trying pretty hard not to laugh at this point.

She huffed, 'Yeah, completely sure. Why are you always so dramatic? It's not like any guy in this school is going to make me do anything I don't want to do anyway.'

I raised an eyebrow at her, she shrugged that off.

'Now can I was this freaking paint off or does the Spanish Inquisition have more pointless questios?'

'Someone's moody,' I smirked at her.

'I'm covered in paint and you're giving me the third degree for nothing! Of course I'm not in a good mood!' she said and stormed away to the changing rooms. I looked at her stomping her feet as she almost ran toward the girls' locker room and I merely suppressed a roaring laughter. I quickly showered and changed, the showers vacated by most of my team mates already. I had trailed behind to talk to Elle after all. As I was leaving the locker room, I saw Lee standing at the corner.

'Heeeeeeey,' he said and I immediately knew he needed me to do something just by the tone of his voice.

'Yes, Lee?' I just grinned.

'Can you give Elle a ride home? Some of the guys wanna grab lunch and I rarely ever get to be seen with any cool footballers...' he trailed off and I rolled my eyes at him. Had he never met me? Noah Flynn, captain of the football team?

'Sure, sure,' I brushed it off as nothing but my insided turned into mush. I wasn't sure if Elle already knew she had to be my sozia, as I had come to school with my motorbike.

'Thanks, man, I owe you one!'

'I'll hold you to it!'

'Whatever,' I heard Lee saying while he ran off trying to catch up with some of my team mates.

I went back to the girls' locker room and opened the door.

'Hey Elle? Lee said he's going for some food with the guys, but if yout want a ride home ...'

Elle was standing in front of one of the sinks, the paint strategically removed from the center of her face, but her blouse must have gotten too wet as she had taken it off and was stood there in her trousers and bra. Mhhhh... her cheeks warmed up and she was blushing furiously.

'What?'

'Nothing.'

'No ... what were you saying?'


	11. Eleven

**Today I did something I normally don't do. I looked at my stats to see how many are reading the stories that I've published and I can tell you my mind is officially blown to bits. What started with 89 views on the first chapter is at a constant 2000 views per day now and I can't even wrap my head around how fast this has been found and how well received this is. Thank you so much for the love you've been giving me.**

 **I keep finding typos and I am planning to have some sort of swear jar for those. It has to stop, seriously! xD**

 **Also I changed my Twitter handle to the name I originally wanted and that became available in the meantime, so if you wanna follow there, too, you can find me at ItsDanniiHey - we can do polls as to what I should write next. I have a couple of oneshot ideas ...  
**

* * *

 **Eleven.**

'Oh. Oh, right, yeah, well um, Lee's leaving to grab some food with the guys, but he said if you wanted to go straight home then I have to give you a ride. And considering you still look like some kind of Picasso...'

I left the consequences of her using public transportation to get home to her own vivid imagination. I was pretty certain she'd attract a lot of attention with the paint still making her look like an art experiment gone wrong, her hair knotted together by clumps of paint and her blouse that was pretty much ruined, too, apart from being ... well, wet.

She had flecks of pink paint splattered over her collarbone and my glance danced over her delicate skin, she was still folding her arms across her chest trying to cover her bra and somehow the situation had a certain intimacy to it that I could not quite pinpoint. After all, we were in a somewhat public space, hell, we were at school and yet it felt like it was just the two of us. I was just glad no teacher was making their rounds to find me in the girls' locker room to be quite honest. That would totally get my benched for the next game, if not worse ...

'Yeah, tell Lee to go ahead,' Elle's words brought me back into the here and now and I blinked rapidly. I was pretty sure I should not tell Elle that Lee had actually already left so I went with it and said, 'Sure. How long are you going to be?'

She shrugged her shoulders.

'I don't know. Since you're taking me straight home, I can shower there so ...'

With that she pulled on her still pretty damp blouse and tried to button up hastily which only resulted in her needing longer and her cheeks turning a lovely tomato color again. Once she had all the buttons done correctly, she swung her bag over her shoulder and commanded, 'let's go!'

A part of me was debating whether or not to say 'Yes ma'am' and to salute to her, but that may have made her snap so I stored that idea for later. I could not help but grin though which made Elle shoot me an exasparated look. We walked in silence for a bit, making our way toward the parking lot until I could not stand the silence any longer. Plus, I was curious. _Very_.

'How's the booth coming along?'

She looked at me warily which naturally I caught. It made me shrug. It was true that I did not want to work her and Lee's kissing booth but that didn't mean I could not ask about their progress, right?

'What? I can't talk to you?'

I felt just a tiny bit insulted and my anger rose a little when she raised her eyebrows sceptically at me.

'Whatever. So are you going to answer me, or not?' I was pretty certain my tone made clear that I was actually interested in getting an answer.

After a few seconds she made the decision to answer my question, 'It's going ok. We still have stuff to do before Friday but I am sure we'll manage - that means as long as Lee doesn't start painting _me_ instead of the letters again.'

I chuckled, 'Well you made a good piece of Impressionism, I'll give you that.'

She halted in her tracks, surprising me with her sudden stop of forward movement and I realized mere moments later, having to walk back a few steps to be eye to eye with her again. She raised her eyebrows at me when she realized that it had taken me a little while to detect that she'd stopped.

' _What_?'

'I think that was a compliment. Noah Flynn just gave someone a _compliment_. Contact the newspapers, somebody!' she said, the last part with a sarcastic undertone and a litte louder as if she hoped someone would hear her and do said thing. I could not help but laugh and she smirked back and carried on walking next to me again.

'Are you going to come to the carnival?' she asked.

'Yeah,' I said truthfully but explained, 'I kind of have to. It's one of those things all of the teachers 'encourage' to show 'school spirit' and shit.' I was pretty sure that she caught that hadn't it been for the teacher's pressure I would probably have skipped the carnival, easily.

'Thinking of stopping by the kissing booth?'

She was not giving up on this one. I was still not willing to set any foot close to this obnoxious concoxion of a stupid idea so I showed her my disapproval and my answer by raising an eyebrow as high as I could.

'Why are you asking, Shelly?' I asked her, using her dreaded nickname to make sure she got the point.

'All the girls, especially the ones working the booth, are asking me to persuade you to stop by. The chance to kiss Noah Flynn is just too exciting a prospect for some.' Interesting, but what about her, would she think it'd be an exciting prospect? Would I excite her? I decided to pressure her a little bit and added in a wide smirk to see what would happen.

'Ah. You're not asking for yourself, then?'

She was doing a supreme job of concealing any reaction to my question, I had to give her that. She seemed to be a little nervous and worked up as far as I could tell but I could be dead wrong. It took her a little bit to answer and then she said, 'No definitely not,' which sounded to me as if she didn't think I'd do it if she asked me specifially to do it for her. Was it that hard to admit that it could be an exciting prospect for her, too?

'Well, I'm not making any promises. You can tell them I _might_ stop by the booth, though, when they ask again. And knowing me, they _will_ ask again.'

'You're so full of yourself,' she muttered and shook her head. I wouldn't say full of myself, I would call it realistic ... I had gotten my keys out and I noticed Elle was looking for my car and furrowed her brows when she didn't see it.

'Where's your car?'

'I didn't bring it today,' I said, matter-of-factly and I think I saw her get a little paler as she realized something...

'So ... how'd you get here?' She asked, testing her hypothesis.

'I took my bike.'

She groaned audibly and lagged behind a little bit. I was pretty certain she hadn't been on a motorcyle and, two, was sure she was scared of it. I wasn't a reckless driver, though, and especially with an additional someone on my bike there was no way I wouldn't be 110% careful.

'If I die, it's all your fault.'

Here we go.

'You're not gonna die, Elle. Here, you can even have the helmet.'

'You only have one helmet?' But then, what if ...' her voice trailed off and I interrupted what ever self-destuctive thought she might have had immediately, 'I'll be fine, I haven't crashed this thing yet.'

'But what if _you_ fall off? What if _you_ crash? You're supposed to wear this helmet for a reason! Do you have some kind of underlying death wish?' The longer she talked, the more hysterical she sounded and I was partially convinced that her fear for my well-being was quite _adorable_.

'Worried about me, Shelly?' I teased her and her eyes narrowed at me. She was annoyed at my smirking as I tossed the helmet gently from hand to hand. She eventually snatched it off me.

'You don't have to be scared of the bike, Shelly,' I told her and stroke over the red paint gently and lovingly, 'It won't _bite_!'

'Maybe not,' she retorted and added quietly, 'but _you_ might!'

She thought I hadn't heard her muttering the last words under her breath but I had heard her and I chuckled. She blushed again and looked away from me and the bike. I tucked my bag into the hollow space underneath the seat and then stretched my hands out toward her to receive her bag, too. She hesitated at first but then handed it over to me. I put her bag in on top of mine, closed the seat and observed her trying to put on the helmet. She fumbled with the straps and as funny as it looked, it wasn't going to be safe if she kept it like she had it on now.

'Here,' venturing out to help her, I brushed over her hands which still helplessly fumbled with the straps and fixed the helmet for her. I made sure it was as safe as possible and checked the back as well. I brushed over the skin on her neck just lightly to see if it fit snugly which it did. My heart started pounding a little faster as I touched her. The fact that I had just stolen a touch excited me. She excited me. Somehow it was like bees round a honey pot, I helplessly drifted back to her. I wasn't sure when this started but I was certain I didn't want it to stop anytime soon. Even if she didn't lo... like me back, this was all worth it.

'Don't look so scared, please,' I said and smiled at her. I slid onto my bike and I could feel her caution as she slipped onto the bike behind me. I reached behind me and found her hands. She flinched lightly but then accepted my touch as I guided her arms and pulled them around my waist. She noticeably stiffened and I tried to calm her down, 'Just relax, Elle.'

I kicked my bike and it came to life and roared, its powerful engine expecting to be used and abused. We hadn't even moved yet and already Elle got scared and squeezed me very tightly around my waist. She pulled herself as close as she could get and this had my heart pound even faster. This was the closest we had ever gotten if you didn't count me holding her hair up when she puked her guts out. I had to admit, both instances weren't quite romantic considering how scared Elle was right now.

I laughed everything off and then we were off.

Eventually we arrived at Elle's house and I yanked the bike around and it came to a sudden yet smooth stop outside her building. Her arms were still curled tighly around my waist and I did notice just how close she really was to me. When she didn't move for another thirty seconds, I slowly and gently peeled her hands away and that made her realize we'd actually stopped.

She slid off the bike and looked quite funny doing it but I didn't dare laughing. Riding a bike for the first time turned your legs into wobbly portions of Jell-O just because you're not used to the movement and the new and awkward position. Her shaky hands once again fumbled with the helmet. I came to her rescue once again and pulled it off her head in one swift motion.

'Your hair's all static,' I determined and reached up to ruffle it further. That was fun. She didn't think so, though, because she scowled and tried to smooth her hair out but to no avail. It was just to messed up.

'Oh come on,' I said, catching her exasparated look, 'don't tell me you didn't _enjoy_ that.'

'I hated it,' she said and it sounded like the truth.

'You didn't love the wind in your hair or the freedom or the sheer speed of it?'

She shook her head. Vigorously.

'Not a chance. I hated it.

'Even cuddling up to me?' I just had to ask, smirking at her cockily, 'don't tell me you didn't enjoy _that_!'

'Noah, that was the scariest thing I've ever done in my entire life. I don't care how _hot_ you are, I hated every second of that!'

Did I just hear what she said or ...

'You think I'm hot?' I could not help but smile widely at her confession and she blushed again, clearly embarrassed as to what just slipped out of her mouth. It was adorable how she got so shy all of the sudden.

'Oh shut up! It's not like you don't know you are,' she said, trying to deflect from the fact that _SHE_ thought so.

'True,' I grinned, 'but it's nice to hear you admit it.' It was, now I had the knowledge I needed ... she was indeed into me and the intensifying blush on her cheeks was the ultimate confirmation for _THAT_.

'You're such a jerk, you know that?' Elle insulted me but she had a small smile on her face which quickly faded, 'And I'm never getting on that bike ever again in my life!'

I just could not resist and since she was all adroable, I had to say, 'but I'm a hot jerk, right?'

'Shut up already. Just get my bag out, please.'

I rolled my eyes at her. I was sure she liked me but I would have loved to flirt with her a little bit more, to be quite honest. Because I was pretty sure that's what we've been doing. I opened the seat and handed her the bag.

Curtly she said 'thank you' and marched toward her front door.

'Oh, Elle?'

'What?' she sighed in response, sounding exasparated, and shot me one of her do-not-annoy-me-anymore looks.

'You have ... a little paint,' I grinned as my glance wandered from her face to her collarbone and back, '... Just there.' And I showed her which side of her face I meant by touching my left cheek in slow motion. She glared at me, wordlessly, turned around, went inside and then slammed the door shut. I put my helmet on and kicked my motorcycle back to life and drove home, a huge smile plastered on my face for the entire duration of the ride.

* * *

I arrived home roughly ten minutes later to see that Lee had not returned from his outing but I saw that my mother was in from work already.

'Hey Mom,' I shouted when entering the house.

'Hey honey,' she responded, clearly knowing how much I hated the endearment. I just tolerated it for her sake, really. Anything that made me look harmless ... just no.

'What's for dinner?' I asked and slumped down onto one of the barstools at the kitchen counter.

'Oh I have a very venturesome idea, why don't _you_ cook tonight, Mr. Oh-So-Demanding-Soon-To-Be-Self-Fed-Colleage-Student?'

'Ha-ha!' I said and stuck my tongue out.

She shot me an amused look, then she looked past my face and onto my shirt and gave me a quizzical look.

'You got some paint on your shirt, there, Noah,' she said.

'I do?' I retorted, playing innocent.

'Yeah,' she pointed at my right shoulder and my waist, 'there ... and there.'

'Oh,' was all I managed to say. To make matters worse, Lee came in that exact moment and said, 'Oh, did Elle rub off on you?'

'Elle?' my mom looked from Lee to me and right back to Lee again, obviosuly confused as to what was going on.

'Yeah,' Lee said, 'I went out with a couple of guys to grab something to eat so Elle had no one to drive her home and we had a ... um ... accident at woodwork.'

'Accident?'

'Let's just call it an accident for now,' Lee laughed, 'Elle basically was covered in a ton of different paint colors.'

'Lee Flynn, what did you do?' My mom sighed and Lee just shrugged his shoulders. 'And you made Elle go on Noah's motorcycle? She _hates_ that thing!'

I shrugged my shoulders.

'She thought it wasn't so bad,' I lied and Lee caught on to it immediately.

'Liar, liar, pants on fire,' he said and smirked, 'Elle is terrified of that thing. I don't even know how you managed it to get her onto it so I humbly pay tribute to you!'

'Ha-ha!'

'I mean it, you got the independent Elle Evans who doesn't want to be told what to do onto your motorbike ...' Lee teased me and I suddenly realized that Elle had done something that she was truly terrified of ... for me.

'Now,' my mother said, catching me off guard, 'what are you cooking for us tonight, Noah?'


	12. Twelve

_**Never stop writing reviews, this is so cool! I love it! Thank you so much for your ongoing interest in this little piece.**_

 _ **For the review that asked for steamy, M-rated sexy times between Elle and Noah ... I cannot for the life of me write those and I am glad there are people out there that have a talent for it so sorry, there won't be any that I write. For me as a fanfiction writer, it feels weird, personally, to 'go there' with those characters and I feel uncomfortable doing it. Let's just leave this to the writers that have a talent for this, shall we?**_

 _ **Can we talk about the brilliant casting choice that is Molly Ringwald as Mrs Flynn? Whenever she appears in the story I immediately hear Molly's voice and envision her in the very scene I am writing. I think this is perfection :)  
**_

 _ **Anyway, there are so many blanks in the upcoming parts of TKB which I can't wait to fill with life and I do hope you're still on board with me here? Keep reading, I'll keep writing :) Thank you for everything, xoxo**_

 ** _This is also a super long one :)_**

* * *

 **Twelve**.

I am not a good cook, this much I will admit. I didn't mind helping my mom in the kitchen and learning some things doing it but whatever I touched was either completely too salty, overcooked, undercooked and eventually completely uneatable. I dreaded to think of myself as one of those soon-to-be college students that would live off fast food and doughnuts and I knew I had to step up my game before the fall in order to be able to stay healthy and fit.

My mom shot me a knowing look over dinner preparations and I smiled at her, letting her know that she was indeed understanding what my struggle was going to be.

'Well,' she said, initiating a conversation in the kitchen while Lee was flopped onto the sofa, playing on the console until dinner was ready, 'I doubt we will be able to turn you into a master chef anytime soon, but I had genuinely hoped we would be further on a good path toward a future in which you're not relying on the takeaway menu that is closest for grabs.'

I grinned as I stirred the tomato sauce calmly.

'Have you decided, yet?' she asked me, her voice quiet so that my brother would not be alerted to the topic of the conversation. I hadn't really told Lee which colleges I had applied to and I wanted to wait until the acceptances ... if those came ... came in. It was all about options with me these days, I realized with a sigh that made my mom wrinkle her forehead in doubt and concern.

'On telling him? No, still wanna see what else happens,' I diverted and she sighed.

'I would feel so much better if you told your brother which colleges were your choice ... and why,' I was pretty sure my mom was in the dark about some of my reasoning for one of those choices that I had already available but I sensed she had an idea that something had changed in my life. Something big. I just really didn't want her to find out prematurely ... since this was all ... premature. Nothing had really happened, apart from me rescuing Elle from her own drunken actions and some hopelessly pesky guys at school.

'San Diego would be really convenient,' I answered, and observed the state of the hot water for the spaghetti for a few seconds before I decided to add some olive oil to the water so that the spaghetti would not be glued together.

'It would be, you'd be close to home,' my mom said and the tone of her voice made me look up and find her face, 'you'd be close to all of us, to your dad, to me, to Lee, to Elle...'

'Uh-huh,' I mumbled as I put the spaghetti into the pot with now visibly boiling water. I turned the stove down just a notch and tried not to look too caught. When did they all start to read me like a book? First Lee, now my mom ... this had to stop, I didn't want them to be able to know ... everything, you know? I had no idea what this ... this thing with Elle was and so far nothing had happened that should be of any concern for them. I had no intention of ever hurting Elle and I was pretty sure my mom and Lee, for that matter, knew that all too well. If anything, she was like a little sister that weirdly shared a birthday with my little brother and was joined at his hip. She was a petite, clumsy dork and she would not settle for anything less than perfection in so many ways. She wasn't going to put up with me anyways, I was far from perfection, too much of a player, someone that didn't hesitate when it came to entering a fight ... I was in no way, shape or form suitable for Elle Evans, that was a fact. Plus, Lee would pretty much kill me if I ever ...

'Look,' my mom said, her voice soothing and calm, 'I know you're not the most ... open ... of all people and I respect that. Really, I do,' she added when my eyebrow went up to question her statement.

'Uh-huh,' I hummed again, unsure what to make of her declaration.

'... but if anything were to happen that ... would overwhelm you and you'd need someone to listen to, not to judge, just to listen ... you'll know where to find me, right?'

Since her offer was genuine and from the heart, I fought back the usual sarcastic remark I would have given back and just smiled.

'Absolutely,' I said, my attention shifting back to the noodles and the task at hand. It was one more attempt to not poison my family with one of the easiest dishes ever known to humanity: spaghetti with tomato sauce.

I shook my head and laughed. I was so unhelpful sometimes.

* * *

As the carnival got closer, the number of girls that approached me about the kissing booth quadrupled and I gave them the same advice that I had told Elle to give them. I might stop by at the booth but I wasn't making any promises.

The head-cheerleader, Olivia, once again tried her luck of convincing me with her swaying hips in the cheerleader uniform but once again, I wasn't interested, which caught Lee's attention.

'Dude,' Lee said and punched me in the biceps, playfully, 'she's one of the hottest girls in school and you're brushing her off like it's nothing. Are you ... ok?'

'Yeah?' I retorted, unsure what Lee was getting at.

'I would kill for a date with her,' Lee said, dreamily as he watched Olivia saunter away to her cheerleader friends.

'Trust me, it's not worth it!' I said and closed my locker with a loud bang which made Lee jump.

'How would you know, you never went out with her?' Lee asked, matching my pace as we walked down the hall.

'I just know,' I said, matter-of-factly, because ... I did.

'Uh-Huh?'

'She's shallow, you're not the type that goes for shallow and you really should not. You're a good guy, Lee, she's not a good girl.'

'Maybe I am into bad girls!' Lee joked but I could tell he knew I had a point.

'Just don't get your hopes up, Lee, she's not gonna be someone you want to have in your life. Just trust me on that one. Get yourself someone like...' my voice trailed off and I had to think hard. I could blow this by saying one very special name but I could also save everything by saying it...

'Elle. Get yourself someone like Elle. She's genuine, she's sweet, she's funny and she is loyal. She's not as shallow as Olivia or any of those girls are.' I said.

'Uh-huh.'

To not make things worse, I worked my way out of this potentially precarious situation by asking how the kissing booth was coming along and this got Lee distracted, thankfully.

'... and we are probably staying until late afternoon to get it finished, but we will make it,' Lee concluded and I nodded in understanding.

'Well, at least nothing with ducks,' I grinned, dragging this joke back up, which still had Lee chuckle.

'Yeah, but honestly, I am pretty scared how it's going to go,' Lee admitted and looked almost fearful.

'I would not stress too much,' I said, 'people really like to kiss.'

'What would I know...' Lee sighed and I was perplexed for a second.

'What? You've had girlfriends before ...'

'Well, yeah, but it's been a while...' Lee's voice trailed off, he was clearly unhappy.

'Ah, don't worry,' I said and patted him on the back which made him jump forward a few steps. Damn, I really should control my muscle.

'Plus, Elle is concerned about the booth in general,' Lee admitted and then looked like he was terrified he had just admitted to something Elle was not comfortable with. Well, for once I knew she wasn't comfortable with my motorcycle ... and now I was interested to learn about one more thing Elle Evans was potentially terrified of.

'Is that so?'

'Yeah, a lot of girls apparently keep asking her about you stopping by the booth and she's scared that if you don't show up, the other people that agreed on doing the booth may drop out last minute,' Lee explained.

'Uh-huh,' I just mumbled.

'Plus ...' Lee said, but caught himself.

'Plus ... what?' I asked, my voice demanding to know. Lee looked at me and just as he was about to say something he probably should not be saying the bell rang.

'Saved by the bell,' he laughed and ran off to his next classroom.

'This conversation is not over yet, young man!' I yelled but he was already gone, disappearing in the midst of students attempting to get to their classrooms.

* * *

The day of the carnival arrived and I woke up to the sound of Lee's car leaving the driveway. I looked at the alarm next to my bed and drowsily read 7:45 am. I cursed and turned back around, knowing that I didn't have to be at the carnival for at least a few more hours since the carnival only started at 10:00 am anyway.

'Nooooooooaaaaaah,' I heard my mom shout from the bottom of the staircase a few moments later and I cursed again. It was Saturday morning, for Pete's sake. I hid under the blanket, ignoring her, which unfortunately did not stop her from knocking at my door a minute later.

'Noah?' she peeked into my room as I grudgingly dug myself out from under the covers.

'What,' I bellowed, not fully awake just yet, and already annoyed.

'I know it's Saturday,' she said and I just hummed in response, 'but I am going to need you to run some errands for me. You know we're out tonight and I can't do all of it by myself.'

'Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine,' I said, stretching the vowel as I stretched my arms over my head.

'When do you need to be off to the carnival, darling?' she asked.

'Starts at eleven or something,' I mumbled, 'and can you please not call me 'darling'?'

'Ok,' she smirked as she exited my room again, 'darling!'

* * *

As it was customary for me, I arrived at the carnival fashionably late and used the crowded aisles between the booths to quietly soak the atmosphere in. I had to admit some of the booths looked very elaborate given the fact that the time it had taken to create them had been mere short weeks. Some student group even had a bouncy castle with a ball pit for little kids which was already pretty crowded and the smell of feet was in the air. I cringed.

The only booth I had not found yet was the infamous kissing booth so I headed out to find it. It didn't take long to figure out its location as a huge knot of people had formed in a far corner of the carnival area. Their booth was conveniently located right next to a cotton candy stand and I used the fact that everyone was checking the booth for a quick purchase of one big ass cotton candy stick. I munched away on one of the guilty pleasures I've had since childhood and watched as Elle and Lee used a rope to separate the queues for boys and girls.

Within minutes the booth was in full swing and I nodded in appreciation. It hadn't even needed me to get it started quite well. I ducked away behind the cotton candy stand and decided to go for another round.

I returned to the kissing booth roughly an hour later to see that the booth was still in full swing. I didn't know what made me but I decided to see for myself who was up to be kissed at a carnival kissing booth. I made my way up toward the booth and saw the girl that was standing there, Karen, and as her eyes widened in shock she soon after darted out of the booth like a panic-stricken deer in headlights that had managed to escape the approaching car. I knew Karen had a not so secret crush on me but her bolting out of the kissing booth like she had seen the devil himself ... or a ghost.

That was new.

I was curious as to who they would present as her replacement, so I waited patiently, whilst the girls' queue was analyzing whether or not I was going to be up for kissing next right after I had claimed my kiss.

I stepped up into the roped-off waiting area and waited for my turn when I heard Karen shriek, 'I can't. I can't do it! _He's_ out there!'

Ha-ha! She had turned into a full-on panic mode.

'Who?' a second, more calm voice asked.

'Your ex?' my brother's voice could be heard. No, I was definitely not Karen's ex.

'Yeah ... sure, let's go with that,' I heard Karen lie.

'But, - but we can't just ... just let Lily do it on her own until he's gone,' Elle stammered and I grinned.

Then I heard something that surprised me. 'Get in the booth!'

That was my brother Lee and since it was just him, Karen and Elle ... I was sure he meant Elle and my heart started pounding faster. I could not have asked for a better opportunity ... he would not ...

He would.

Elle walked over to the vacated stool and didn't look up, probably afraid as to what was awaiting her. She reached the counter, took the lipstick and put a little bit of it on, still not looking up. Red normally was not her colour as she didn't want to stand out from the crowd as much so this must have been a lipstick that Karen had used previously.

Lily shot her what I thought was an encouraging smile and said: 'Next!'

This was my cue to step up toward the booth and only then Elle managed to look up. She immediately twisted around toward Karen and Lee and I could only imagine the look she was giving them.

'Flynn?' I heard her hiss and I chuckled. Well, sorry Elle, it was really just me. And no matter if she liked it or not, it looked like I was the next person to be kissed by her, what a nice coincidence. Not even Lee could interpret any sort of deliberateness into this, right? After all, he had pushed Elle onto the podium ...

'Next!' Lily called again and I could see a visibly distressed Elle clear her throat and repeat after Lily, 'Next?'

I walked the final steps up to the booth and sat opposite to her.

'Since when were you working the kissing booth?' I asked her, genuinely interested.

'Well, since you turned up and Karen wimped out!' she mumbled. I could not help but take all of it in, after all, this was going to be our first kiss and I somehow wanted to preserve every last detail of it. She must have felt intimidated by me giving her a stare down because she started fidgeting on her seat.

'What? I didn't dress for this, okay?'

'No, you look fine,' I said, and she did. Why would she even doubt how attractive she was?

'Oh,' she blinked, obviously taken aback, 'thanks. I didn't think you were going to show up here.'

I shrugged.

'I didn't pay to talk to you, you know?' I said and it probably sounded like the most player thing I could have said. For a split second I hated myself for it, but genuinely speaking, it had been the truth. I had paid to kiss someone only that no one had told me I would get to kiss the most beautiful girl around. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lee disappearing behind the booth and a part of me was glad that he must have decided to pass the awkward situation of his brother kissing his best friend. Still, I pushed two dollars over the counter pointedly, looked Elle in the eyes and said: 'I paid to get a kiss.'

I raised an eyebrow and waited.

She had just gulped audibly and was visibly nervous. She started fidgeting when I raised an eyebrow at her and I took her right hand into both of my hands to calm her down. So I thought. Her eyes widened and then flitted down to my lips ...

 _Shit!_

In this very instant, I understood what Lee hadn't wanted me to know.

 _Shit! Shit! Shit!_

Too late now.

I leaned in to kiss her.

She kissed me back and I knew that my hypothesis was right. She hadn't kissed anyone before and I was her first kiss. I quickly suppressed the thought and vowed to make it as pleasurable for her as possible. I tried to lead her with my experience and she followed what I was guiding her to do. She tasted so good, the aftertaste of a cherry coke and cotton candy on her tongue.

I cautiously let my tongue slip further to touch the tip of hers and feeling her startled reaction I prepared to pull back and to face the aftermath of whatever ... this ... was but she did not pull back. Instead, she opened her mouth a little wider to let me deepen the kiss.

Whoa.

Somewhere in my dazed mind, I understood that she was kissing me back harder, with more passion than I had anticipated and it made my blood rush in my veins, making it impossible to notice anything but her. Her taste, her little moans as she moved her tongue against mine, her scent ...

Whoa.

Then, all too sudden, we broke apart at the same time, our foreheads still touching and I desperately craved any form of physical contact. She was like a drug to me, one, that I had now tasted.

'Damn,' I said, a smirk forming at the corners of my eyes and all I could think about was to how heavenly this had felt. Our first kiss.

'Yeah,' she whispered back.

There were a few wolf-whistles from the crowd but not too many. It appeared as if most of the innocent bystanders were as shocked as we were. I didn't think I realized the size of our audience until I took a good look at them moments later when Karen tapped Elle on the shoulder.

'Uh - I'll take over now if you want.'

Elle walked out of the booth the same way as she had walked in, in a daze, her eyes on the floor. I was worried her clumsiness would make her stumble and fall but she managed to hold onto whatever she could grab and after a few steps her walk steadied and I was sure she was able to get on just fine.

I had no idea how this had happened.

What had just happened?

Did I really just kiss my brother's best friend?

Worst of all ... I loved every second of it.


	13. Thirteen

**_Whoa, my mind is blown. I loved Noah's POV of the kiss and I definitely think there was no planning involved on his part to make it happen at the carnival, it was mere coincidence but he absolutely loved every second of it. A small part of me also thinks Lee is doing some behind the scenes work to make it happen because he has this gut feeling that he won't be able to prevent Elle and Noah from getting together, anyways. Lee knows it's Elle's first kiss and yet he makes her get into that booth with his brother ... hasn't that bothered any of you? Well, I was pretty surprised when I realized after my second read of the book so I explained it away like I did above. I am sure Lee knows that Elle is good for Noah and Noah is good for Elle. They deserve each other - but not in a hurtful way Lee's used in the movie. In a good way._**

 ** _Alas, shall we continue_**?

* * *

 **Thirteen.**

 _I had no idea how this had happened._

 _What had just happened?_

 _Did I just really kiss my brother's best friend?_

 _Worst of all ... I loved every second of it._

Here is something that I only realized in hindsight thinking about the night Elle and I had kissed. Although it had not involved any planning on my part and although I knew Elle had not intended to work the booth at all (given the not unimportant fact that she hadn't been kissed before), there were forces beyond our power and influence that had guided us up until the very moment our lips had touched. One of those forces being my little brother Lee.

See, I didn't realize it at that moment but Lee had had the biggest reservations against me and despite all those reservations and his apprehensiveness, he had pushed Elle onto that kissing booth stage knowing full well that I was the one next in line, the first person that got to kiss his best friend.

Of course, to not witness any of it, Lee had immediately retreated. It was getting more curious by the minute and I was thoroughly confused.

I could not stop thinking about that kiss Elle and I had shared. It had been unexpectedly passionate yet gentle and for her first kiss ... damn! Damn! DAMN! At first, she had been tense, careful, scared even but the longer we had kissed, the more open and trusting she got. She had followed my lead, eager to learn and boy a quick learner she was. I could not tell you when exactly a kiss had left me breathless ... or speechless for that matter.

There were a few things that I needed to investigate in the upcoming hours and days and the two most pressing issues were: How would I react when I saw Elle next and the more interesting conundrum I would be facing at home, interacting with my askance brother who had all of the sudden at least partially changed his mind.

Boy! Oh boy, this was going to be a bumpy ride.

* * *

The carnival had wrapped up and a few people had stayed behind to clean up. My football coach had 'suggested' I'd stay behind and assess the situation to find out if my help was needed and since his suggestion had an alarmingly exigent tone, I did what I was suggested to do.

After roughly another hour a very excited and out of breath Lee practically jumped me.

'Noah!'

'Lee!'

'Noah!'

'Lee?'

'Would it be bothersome for you to take Elle home after the carnival? See, there is this girl Rachel, that I really ... and I mean REALLY like and we wanna go see a movie but then there is no one to drive Elle home and it would take literally hours to go by bus and I know I've asked you quite a few favors recently but Noah I really like...' Lee gushed out a sea of words and for a moment I had issues following his thoughts that bubbled out of his mouth.

'Slow down, Lee, jeez, you act like you're having a seizure!' I teased and made him explain in a lower and calmer register. Once I had finally understood that he had ditched Elle for his date - a fact that he resolutely contradicted - and said Elle may need a ride home, I was absolutely ok with taking her home.

'You sure?' Lee asked.

'Yeah,' I answered, raising my eyebrow at him.

'Just asking since ... you know ... earlier ... and it could be awkward.'

'Oh,' I just said. Yeah, I was counting on awkward, 'you were trying to tell me that she hadn't had her first kiss but you were afraid of the consequences if she ever found out you couldn't keep your mouth shut, right?'

Lee blushed into a very cute beetroot colour.

Confirmed.

'No worries, Lee, I'm not planning on telling her you almost told me.'

'Good,' Lee let out a relieved sigh.

'Go have fun with ... Rachel!' I said, grinning as I saw his face lighten up. He was clearly smitten with that girl. Maybe that was why Lee understood how smitten I was...

Lee went ahead and rushed back to his - I assumed - girlfriend and I turned around the corner to see Elle playfully argue with one of the juniors, Joel.

'It's your fault, you know? Really, _you_ owe _me_ thirty bucks!'

'Why?'

'If you hadn't made it a smooch booth, guys wouldn't have been queueing up in the hope of a quick French kiss, so hand over my thirty bucks!'

Elle laughed and bumped against his broad shoulder.

'Not happening. And it wasn't my fault. Or do you, like, _ohhhhmmyyyygooooosh_ , totally _need_ to know every single detail of my first kiss?' Elle teased and out on a very girly-ish and excited tone. Joel feigned a look of pure horror, bumped Elle back with his hip and laughed.

'Okay, okay, keep your money! Spare me, please!'

I coughed. That was enough. I shot Joel a quick look, signalling him to get lost.

I indicated Elle to follow me toward the parking lot and she obliged.

'Lee said you were stuck for a ride so I should come and pick you up.'

'Sure,' Elle said and somehow she sounded surprised. Didn't she think I was taking every opportunity to see her? Weird. Because that was what I was doing.

'Wait!' she stopped in her tracks and I raised an eyebrow questioningly at her, 'you haven't got your bike, have you?'

'No,' I could not help but chuckle at the apparent panic in her voice, 'I took my car since you hated the bike so much!'

'Thank God,' she breathed out which made me chuckle even harder. In that instant, I realized that Elle and I were going to be alone, soon, in my car. My heartbeat quickened and my palms got sweaty all of the sudden. I discreetly wiped my palms on my shorts and continued to my car, Elle in tow. The tension between the two of us was palpable and I was genuinely wondering if only I was having a feeling of despair in regards to this. I didn't want our relationship to be strained by what had happened earlier but it looked like the damage had been done already. We weren't as happy-go-lucky as before which made me sad.

'Do you mind if I stop by my house on the way?' I asked her, suddenly remembering something. This would prolong the time that we were spending together eventually and for me, this was all that counted. Strained as the atmosphere may be, I wanted as much alone time with Elle as I could possibly get without raising suspicion.

'Huh?'

'My dad bought a video game he thought Brad would like. I'm supposed to give it to you.' This was only half a lie, really, because my father had actually told Lee to do it over dinner but given how preoccupied Lee was with his latest romantic conquest ... I might as well do it, right? Right?

'Oh sure,' Elle nodded, 'no problem.'

'Okay.'

We fell silent for a bit and listened to the local radio station. After a couple of minutes, I got curious.

'So ... how much did your booth raise in the end?'

'Six hundred and fourteen bucks.'

'Wow?!' I said and paid my tribute with a low whistle.

'I know. We made even more than the hot dog stand.'

Considering how much people liked hot dogs, this was a big thing to achieve, I thought. But then I realized that people must ... _really_ like to kiss. The silence between us returned and Elle nudged the radio volume a little up in order to brush over the fact that the weird atmosphere had returned. It might not have left, to be honest. The music did not loosen us up, it did nothing to lighten the mood and I felt a little despair creeping up on me. What if it was going to stay this strained between us?

I tried to distract myself with the music and when a song came up that I really liked, I started bobbing my head ever so lightly to the beat of the music and concentrated on the road ahead. A few raindrops had fallen earlier and if you ever drove a car in Los Angeles, you knew, that even four to six raindrops a square foot would drive people insane. Everyone lost their shit and forgot how to drive.

I tried not to think of the kiss that we had shared earlier but the thoughts of it came back involuntarily. They sneaked up on me while we waited at a red light.

I can honestly say I never felt what I felt with Elle with any of the other girls I had kissed. It never felt as intimate, as passionate, as loving as any of the others and I did realize it meant I genuinely cared about Elle. Not that I had needed any proof of that ... I knew. The kiss further cemented me knowing that my feelings for her were as real as can be. She meant more to me than anyone had ever before. Passion had bubbled up in my insides and when my hands had glided down her back toward her petite waist, I could not help but wonder how she'd feel, how she'd taste...

Stop it, Noah! Focus on the road!

I still wanted to kiss her again. I mean, _really_ wanted to kiss her again. I wanted a full-on makeout session, I wanted to run my fingers through her hair and have our limbs tangled together while we made out on my bed ...

Stop it, damn it, Noah! The road!

We finally pulled up at my house. The car ride had felt like an eternity. I had looked forward to spending time with her but we didn't talk much and kept our thoughts to ourselves. Lee had predicted the atmosphere may be awkward and he had been right. If only I knew if the kiss meant anything to Elle. If I meant anything to her. That would help me out here, thank you very much. Although I knew she thought I was hot and all, I had no idea whether she had liked kissing me or not. I just knew I wanted this on repeat for as often as she'd allow.

'I'll come in and get the game for Brad,' Elle said, 'I'll walk from here.'

I had the feeling that she needed to get some space between us and I could not blame her for that. The last thirty minutes in my car had been emotionally exhausting and I felt as drained as I'd feel after a full football practice.

'Sure,' I said, 'whatever!'

I opened the door and she hung around near the doorway while I rifled through a pile of papers on the counter. I was certain my dad had said he had left the game right there.

'Ha!' I thought when I finally retrieved it from under the pile of papers. I turned around and handed her the new Mario game. I was not even a whole foot away from her and I could smell the faint scent of cotton candy, her hairspray and ... her. I closed my eyes for a split second and inhaled.

Before I knew what was happening, Elle had gotten up on her tiptoes and kissed me.


	14. Fourteen

**Fourteen.**

Whoa. Wait a minute. What?

Before I had a chance to realize what was happening, Elle retreated from me, her cheeks burning and her facial expression radiating guilt and regret. I looked at her, blinking in shock, unable to form coherent thoughts or even a straight sentence. Had she really just ... kissed me? Out of the blue, without any advance warning. All I could deduct from that was that she must have had the urge to kiss me again and that comforted me. I just stared at her and I may have looked at her shocked and confused, I had no idea, I was lost.

'Oh God!' she babbled hastily and stepped back a little bit, her cheeks blushing even deeper and her eyes dark,' I'm so sorry. It's just - I mean, I just - Oh man, I-'

Without even thinking twice, I took the one strode toward her and shut her babbling up quite effectively by pressing my mouth onto hers and claiming her. She was mine. I needed her, I needed to kiss her, needed to touch her, needed to feel her. Any last resistance or the shock about her spontaneous action before left her body and she melted into my body and pressed herself against me. Her arms curled around my neck and caressed my hair. She kissed me back and I let my hands wander down her back and played with her hair, just as I had imagined before. In the car. During some sleepless nights. I craved her, needed her, and now I had her. It felt like every inch of our bodies was touching and that excited me. She excited me. My breathing got faster as I caressed her lower lip with my tongue and I fought back a moan as well as I could. I didn't want to overwhelm her with what my body was ... um ... expressing. I put my hands on her hips and lifted her onto the kitchen counter so that her legs were either side of me. This made it a lot easier to kiss her, access all the delicate parts of her...

I moved on to caress and kiss the creamy skin on her neck and placed little butterfly kissed just on the nape of the neck when Elle suddenly jerked back to reality, it seemed.

'Noah, we-we can't do this,' she said, breathlessly. She was shaking and I didn't know if it was from the passionate makeout session or because she was shocked and disgusted at what we had just done.

I sighed, stepped back and ran my fingers through my hair. What now?

I looked her in the eyes and I hoped she could read my despair in it. Why had she interrupted our kiss? Had I done something wrong?

'I-I'm not going to just be another girl you sleep with and don't call back in the morning,' she hurried to say and stuck her chin out, 'I'm not risking my friendship with Lee just for that.'

I looked at her for a long moment. Ah. I had suspected that there were major misconceptions going on.

'That's what you think I'd do, really?' To be honest, I was insulted. Did she really think I would treat her this cheaply?

'W-well...' she trailed off and I could tell she wasn't so sure all of the sudden.

I came closer so that the distance between us shrunk to merely a couple of inches. I could feel her breath on me and I was sure she felt mine, too. She was still sitting on the counter and our height difference did not matter in this position. She could have retreated a little bit, though, but she didn't. Instead, she licked her lips nervously and waited for me to continue talking.

'Let's get one thing straight here,' I said, my voice quiet but firm. I wanted her to believe me, I needed her to believe me. 'Two things. First off: Do you have any idea how myna girls I'll kiss at a party who - on the next day - claim they've slept with me? And second: Despite what all those girls think, they never actually wanna date me. They say they do but genuinely think about it, Elle. Who wants a boyfriend, who wants a serious relationship with someone who has a reputation for getting into fights, or ... just a fling?'

I could tell she knew I was serious. Good.

'You see my point, right?' I asked her, needing to make sure she did.

She nodded, 'Yeah, but-but you'd never do something to a girl. You're not like that.'

'Yes, but that doesn't seem to factor into it for them.' I said matter-of-factly.

'So hang on,' Elle interrupted me, 'what are you trying to say here? It's not your fault you're a player? Or - at least - that you've got a reputation as one?'

'Right.'

'And...?' Elle prompted me to continue. I bit my lip which did not go unnoticed by Elle. The topic made me nervous, hell, she made me nervous. How was I supposed to explain something to her that even I didn't fully understand?

'I just mean,' I slowly said, looking down at the counter instead of directly at her since that made it much easier for me, 'I just mean that I wouldn't treat you like dirt, as you seem to think I would!'

'I still don't know what you're trying to say, Noah,' Elle said, practically asking for clarification.

'I don't either,' I simply said and it was the truth. I rubbed my hands over my face, partly to hide from her expectant glances. I chuckled at the thought that I had to hide from Elle Evans. 'But ...' I once again inched closer toward her with just an inch of air between us. I rested my hands on her thighs and I could not help but notice that her breathing had gotten shallow the second we made contact that way.

'But?' she asked with her eyes.

'... I do know I want to kiss you again,' I admitted.

Elle looked at me, taken aback, her eyes widened in shock. I was pretty sure she had wondered if I had been serious about the kiss and this potentially being more. There, I had just confirmed I wanted her. What else did she need? I tested my waters by slowly lowering my head toward her, giving her all the time in the world to stop me. I would have stopped if she wanted me to, clear as day, I respected whatever decision she was willing to make. She didn't resist, she didn't flinch, she didn't withdraw and she let me kiss her again, our lips meeting in yet another passionate, deep kiss.+

I wrapped her legs around my waist, she put her arms around my neck and caressed my upper back, toying with the hair at the nape of my neck. I loved her touch, how thoroughly she was exploring with everything being so new for her ... and for us. I just didn't want to stop ... this, whatever this was, I needed it to last forever. I lifted her off the counter and carried her out of the kitchen. I had no idea how I made it up the stairs and into my bedroom with her kissing me back with full force. The kissing had turned even more heated and I was sure that by now she could sense how much that ... well. You know? _Affected_ me.

I dropped her onto my soft and springy mattress and that was when she regained control of herself.

'Noah,' she said, trying to pull away,' Noah...'

'Yeah,' I murmured, nibbling on her right earlobe.

'We can't, I'm not...' she hastily said.

'Hmm?' I drew back to be able to look her in the eye. Right. I had been her first kiss. This was a whole lot of firsts in a day. Gotcha!

'Oh no, I didn't mean for ... you know ... I wasn't ...' I said, my voice trailing off. I didn't want to force her into anything she didn't want.

'I ... - I can't do this,' she stammered and wriggled away, away from my embrace and stood up. She made her way to the bedroom door that I had clumsily closed after entering with her. She quickly straightened her top which had moved slightly upward. Her sudden urge to be decent after the intimate moments we had shared earlier ... I felt a pang of insult but I didn't regret any of it. I wanted her, and I could tell she wanted me, too.

I pulled her back, my hand on her arm. I quietly closed the door which hadn't been closed properly while entering hastily. I pressed my body right against her, desperate for contact.

'Noah,' she said firmly, 'I'm not going to do this. Nothing is going to happen between us because we just don't _go_ together. All we do is argue. You scare guys away from me. And I am not some ... - some plaything you can just use when it's convenient. You got that?'

I sighed softly. She didn't understand my motivation, at all.

'I never thought you were something to use when it's convenient,' I said and it was the truth. She was special in so many ways. I looked her full in the eyes to make sure she knew I was genuine.

She groaned in frustration, 'You're not making this any easier. I don't know what the hell to do ...'

Oh, good! That made two of us!

'We argue and you're Lee's big brother but ...'

'But?'

She blurted out, ' ... but I felt something when we kissed. I don't know what the hell to do, honestly, I don't - but I am not going to make out with you if we're just hooking up.'

'You want the truth then, Elle?' I said, unable to hide my frustration for much longer. It was time to really tell her what made her special for me. 'You're the one girl who is herself around me, and I like that. But the fact that you don't want me back is sending me crazy. You're the only girl who didn't fall at my feet and it is driving me insane. I haven't so much as looked at anyone else because of you - did you know that? You're all I can think about.'

There. Cards were on the table. I wasn't the most open person on this planet so this confession was a huge deal for me. I knew Elle knew that, too.

'And ...' she asked cautiously, 'how long have you felt like this? You know, just out of curiosity.'

I shrugged. Couldn't hurt to tell her the truth, could it? 'A couple of months.'

She nodded and I was certain she was doing her utmost to keep things together, to be steady and collected.

'I thought you said you saw me as a little sister.' Elle added.

'That was until you grew up,' I said simply. Then I added something important, 'I made you blush. That been my first indicator that she may as well be into me.

'If that's true, why did you tell me I was like a sister to you?' Elle asked and I had to give her that she was asking the important questions.

I averted her eyes when I answered that one, 'You didn't want me back. I'm not the kind of guy to tell someone what I am actually feeling,' I paused for a bit, the confession strenuous for me. 'You know that. You know this whole conversation is torture to me?'

She smirked but blushed right after, 'I wanted you, believe me.'

Oh! That was what the blush was for. I grinned. Good. I felt the weight of a thousand heavy boulders fall off of me. Did she have any idea how happy this confession of hers made me? I tilted my head so that my lips brushed against hers, ever so lightly. 'Just ... I don't ... I don't want you to think that I'm only interested in one thing here, okay? I'm not. That's one of the things that I like about you. You're sweet and innocent. Different. It's cute.'

'You think I am cute now, too?' she raised an eyebrow and I was sure she must have felt my smirk against her lips. 'And here was I thinking I was just your little brother  
s annoying best friend.'

'Well, there is that, too,' I retorted, still smiling.

She giggled and traced one finger across my chest, an action that sent goosebumps all over my body. I felt like I needed to emphasize something, 'I'm not just interested in you for _that_ , okay?'

'If you were, I'd seriously question your judgement,' she mumbled and that made me chuckle. I placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head up. I hoped that she could read my expression correctly, all the caution, sincerity and care .. I needed her to understand that I was 100% serious about her. No doubt on my mind. She leaned up to kiss me and it so happened we clashed teeth. I chucked when I saw her biting the inside of her cheek in apparent horror.

'Sorry,' she muttered.

I suppressed all the chuckles that were bubbling up in my body but could not help it too much. I moved my lips over hers, carefully placing little kisses in each corner of her mouth before I answered,' Practice makes perfect.'

This time we didn't clash teeth. This time we made out in full force. I loved every second of it. I was glad that my feelings were mutually shared and that we cleared things up between us. The entire thing was complicated enough with me, her, ... Lee. We would figure this out eventually.


End file.
